Summative assessment of student teaching: a proposed approach for quantifying practice

Abstract

A pass mark in a teaching practice module is a convenient way for universities to signal confidence in students’ beginning teaching competence. However, assigning marks for teaching competence is a fraught undertaking if marks are to be standardised across different assessors and reflect teaching as a complex, coherent practice. This paper analyses reports written by university tutors justifying the marks awarded to a cohort of final-year student teachers for their teaching practice. The analysis shows that marks reflect an interplay between the students’ pedagogical thinking (evident in the rationale for their lesson design and written and verbal reflections on their teaching), and their ability to deliver lessons effectively (from direct observation of their teaching). This finding prompted the development of a Summative Teaching Practice Assessment Rubric which considers both the cognitive and performance dimensions of student teaching. It potentially enables a more coherent, holistic summative assessment of student teaching than had been possible using lists of isolated criteria or general impressions of competence.