Usefulness and Application of a Co-Designed Formative Assessment Practice Perceived by Teachers in Primary Education

Abstract

Formative assessment practices developed in co-design by teachers have the potential to support novel teachers with its implementation. This study examines the perceived usefulness and application of a co-designed formative assessment practice by primary school teachers that were not involved in the co-design process itself. A convergent mixed-method approach was used that integrated both qualitative and quantitative methods. A qualitative descriptive design was used to provide a comprehensive understanding of the program's usefulness as perceived by teachers with or without additional training. A quantitative method was used to evaluate the extent to which formative assessment was applied across both groups. The quantitative data was situated within the qualitative framework for the interpretation of findings. Findings indicate that (i) a co-designed formative assessment practices program supports teachers with the implementation of formative assessment to their local teaching contexts. (ii) A comprehensive adoption, unlike procedural approaches to formative assessment, requires additional support in the form of a complementary teacher professional development program. However, this additional support requires far less time than the time investment put into the co-design process itself.