Browsing by Subject "toimintastrategiat"

Objective of the study. Assessment is a central part of academic teacher education studies and supporting the development of professional agency a key objective of assessment in tertiary education. Therefore, understanding students’ experiences of being assessed and the development of professional agency in assessment situations is important. Teachers’ professional agency is an integrative concept consisting of three dimensions: motivation, self-efficacy and classroom strategies. Previous studies have shown that the teaching practice periods and social interaction situations during teacher education are important in the development of student teachers’ professional agency. Furthermore, previous studies have suggested that assessment practices are related to students’ motivation, self-efficacy and learning. Previous studies have not explored students’ assessment experiences in relation to the development of their professional agency. The purpose of the present study is to find out what kind of assessment situations student teachers identify as important, and how these assessment situations are related to the development of teachers’ professional agency. Methods. The data consisted of eight individual interviews, collected from student teachers who were at the final phase of their studies. The Critical Incident method was applied when carrying out the interviews. The participants were asked to recall assessment situations during their teacher education studies which they found important for their professional development. The interview data were analyzed using the abductive content analysis approach. Results and conclusions. The results suggested that assessment situations were related to the development of student teachers’ professional agency. The clearest relation was found between assessment situations and students’ self-efficacy. The students considered formative, timely, dialogical and well-founded assessment as the most beneficial in supporting the development of their professional agency. Assessment as its best can enhance students’ experiences of being on the right track, capability for teacher profession and having the sufficient skills for teacher’s work in the future. Poorly executed assessment can impede the development of professional agency. Based on the results the use of dialogical feedback practices and interactive peer assessment practices can be particularly beneficial in supporting the development of students’ motivation, self-efficacy and classroom strategies. It is important to consider the development of students’ professional agency in developing the assessment practices of the academic teacher education.