Better the devil you know : the treacherous path towards a formative culture
Langelaar, Harm-Jan; Torgersen, Jesse Brooks (2023)
2023
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023052212509
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023052212509
Tiivistelmä
Students and teachers in Dutch schools are used to many summative assessments and assign great value in grades. At the same time, those same people experience pressure from a barrage of tests and scientific consensus on grading is that it increases stress and does not improve learning or motivation. Still, both students and teachers are hesitant moving towards a system of marking less and have doubts about formative alternatives.
In this thesis, the authors investigated formative working as a concept and looked at attitudes students at two Dutch schools had towards learning and summative grading. Students were found to be largely result-oriented, yet unaware of the relationship between their learning and the reception and application of feedback.
Using the Concerns-Based Adoption Model, it was investigated how these students’ teachers felt about formative working and the extent to which it was actually already in use. This data was gathered through validated Stages of Concerns questionnaires and Level of Use interviews.
It was found that both students and teachers believe that formative working is preferable to summative working, yet both express hesitation at the feasibility. It also became clear that many stakeholders labour under misconceptions as to what formative working entails. Even critical teachers were found to already use formative working in their lessons.
In this thesis, the authors investigated formative working as a concept and looked at attitudes students at two Dutch schools had towards learning and summative grading. Students were found to be largely result-oriented, yet unaware of the relationship between their learning and the reception and application of feedback.
Using the Concerns-Based Adoption Model, it was investigated how these students’ teachers felt about formative working and the extent to which it was actually already in use. This data was gathered through validated Stages of Concerns questionnaires and Level of Use interviews.
It was found that both students and teachers believe that formative working is preferable to summative working, yet both express hesitation at the feasibility. It also became clear that many stakeholders labour under misconceptions as to what formative working entails. Even critical teachers were found to already use formative working in their lessons.