Learning Experiences of Assessment and Grading of New Teachers

The main purpose of this qualitative research is to describe the learning experiences of assessment andgrading of new teachers and to describe how teaching experience at a school can affect teachers' learning experience. Science method pre-service teachers from a university in New South Wales who gained fulltime employment on completion of their course were invited to participate in the research project during their first year of teaching. Data was collected from the interested participants to identify their conceptions, actual and intended practices of assessment and grading in three stages using a questionnaire and semi structured interviews in a longitudinal study. Data collected at different stages was compared to describe the learning experiences of new teachers. Furthermore, qualitative data from interviews was analysed to describe how school based teaching experience affect the learning of new teachers. It was found that new teachers experience changes in their conceptions and practices of assessment and grading during the first school semester of their teaching experience. There was minimal change in the teachers' conceptions about the general purpose of assessment and grading. However, there were noticeable changes in the teachers' conceptions about the quality of assessment and grading in terms of what constitutes as acceptable practices of assessment and grading. This suggests that school based teaching experience play a significant role in the learning of the new teachers about assessment and grading, although teachers did not attribute this change to their teaching experience at this school. Findings of this research study have implications for pre-service education programs offered by universities, indicating a need to include more explicit courses in the area of assessment and grading. New teachers also need to be provided with more support in the area of assessment and grading as part of their induction and mentoring systems offered at schools