Understandings and ways of performing formative assessment in primary school

V magistrskemu delu nas je primarno zanimalo kako osnovnošolski učitelji pojmujejo formativno spremljanje in kakšne razlike v pogostosti izvajanja dejavnosti, ki so značilne za formativno spremljanje, lahko zaznamo med njimi. Glede na zastavljen cilj smo v teoretičnem delu najprej opravili zgodovinski pregled razvoja omenjenega koncepta – od behavioristično zastavljene kurikularne evalvacije v 60. letih prejšnjega stoletja do današnjega konstruktivističnega razumevanja spremljanja za spodbujanje učenja. Zatem smo izpostavili nekatere dileme prevodnih rešitev za termin formative assessment in prikazali razvoj slovenskega modela formativnega spremljanja. Ker gre za koncept, ki je v naš prostor vstopil iz anglosaškega sveta, smo se v teoretičnem delu posvetili tudi analizi podobnosti in razlik med formativnim spremljanjem in v našem prostoru predhodno že prisotnimi sorodnimi didaktičnimi koncepti – načelo učne aktivnosti, načelo diferenciacije in individualizacije učnega procesa, preverjanje znanja in ocenjevanje znanja. Ker pri delu stroke lahko zasledimo želje po zamenjavi oz. dopolnitvi obstoječega modela ocenjevanja znanja s formativnim spremljanjem, pa smo v teoretičnem delu opravili tudi premislek o teh namerah. Za namen raziskave smo z anketnim vprašalnikom zbrali odgovore 214-ih respondentov. S pomočjo zbranih odgovorov smo nato preučili različne vidike razumevanja formativnega spremljanja pri učiteljih – vidik omogočanja učne aktivnosti, motivacije učencev za učenje, učne individualizacije ter dojemanje razmerja med formativnim spremljanjem, preverjanjem in ocenjevanjem znanja. V manjšem obsegu smo se posvetili tudi analizi pogostosti izvajanja dejavnosti formativnega spremljanja pri pouku – npr. zbiranje dokazov o učnih dosežkih učencev, vključenost učencev v načrtovanje ciljev učenja in kriterijev njihovega doseganja ter dejavna vključenost učencev v končno vrednotenje lastnega znanja. V empiričnem delu smo odgovarjali na štirinajst raziskovalnih vprašanj. Dve od spoznanj do katerih smo uspeli priti sta, da formativno spremljanje v Sloveniji večinoma izvajajo učitelji z večletnimi izkušnjami v praksi iz česar gre predvidevati, da se bodoči učitelji s konceptom spoznajo predvsem z vstopom v šolsko praksoskoraj polovica anketiranih učiteljev pa se strinja z idejo, da bi formativno spremljanje moralo nadomestiti obstoječe ocenjevanje znanja, četudi ga v večini dojemajo kot obliko preverjanja znanja.In the master thesis we were primarily interested in finding out how primary school teachers perceive formative assessment and what differences can be detected in the frequency of formative assessment activities used in class. In light of the set goal, we first performed a historical overview of the concepts’ development - from the behaviourist curricular evaluation in the 60s of the last century to today\u27s constructivist understanding of assessment for learning. Next, we turned our attention to the development of the Slovenian formative assessment model and also highlighted some dilemmas concerning translation of the term formative assessment to Slovene term formativno spremljanje. Since it is a concept that that was originally formed in the Anglo-Saxon world, we then analysed the similarities and differences between formative assessment and related concepts previously already present Slovenia - the didactic principle of learning activity, the didactic principle of differentiation and individualization of the learning process, pre-grading knowledge verification and the knowledge assessment that comes by the end of learning process and is typically associated with final grading of students’ knowledge. Since the desire to replace the existing model of final knowledge assessment with formative assessment is present among some Slovenian authors, we also reflected on these intentions. For the purpose of research, we collected the answers of 214 respondents by the use of questionnaire. With the help of the collected answers, we then examined various aspects of teachers\u27 understandings of formative assessment - from the point of enabling learning activity, student motivation for learning, learning individualization and from the point of perception of the relation between formative assessment, pre-grading verification of acquired knowledge and final knowledge assessment which is typically associated with final grading. On a smaller scale we also analysed the frequency of formative assessment activities used during the in-class lessons - e.g. collection of evidence about the learning achievements of students, involvement of students in the planning of learning goals and criteria for their achievement, and active involvement of students in the final evaluation of their own knowledge. In the empirical part, we answered fourteen research questions. Two of the insights we managed to come to are that formative assessment is in Slovenia mostly carried out by teachers with many years of experience in practice, from which it can be assumed that teachers are mostly introduced to the concept by entering school practice, and that almost half of the teachers agree with the idea that formative assessment should replace existing final knowledge assessment, even though the majority perceives it as a form of pre-grading knowledge verification