Assessment in Teacher Education: What & Why

                         Assessment in Teacher Education: What & Why

Assessment plays a significant role in a teacher education course as it ascertain what the student (the trainee teacher) has to do so as to the qualifications. That is, assessment integrates various areas of the particular course and develops the trainee’s power of analysis and reflection.

The assessment in teacher education includes the following principles:

a.     The assessment should be appropriately diagnostic and formative. That is to say, it should provide feedback to staff and trainees alike on the extent to which learning objectives are being realized, and on the existence of learning difficulties and the need for help and improvement.

b.     The assessment should be summative. That is, it should constitute a reliable measure of academic and professional achievement.

c.      The assessment should act as an integrating device to strengthen the overall coherence of the course.

d.     Forms of assessment be diverse in order to allow the trainee to show a range of expertise and to match the reflection of the varied demands of the course.

e.      The load of assessment should be produce sufficient information on the trainee’s progress.

f.       The assessment should be such that the trainee is not under excessive pressure at certain of the course and insufficiently stressed at others.