The Challenge of Classroom Assessment: Analyzing the Discourses of Primary School Teachers from Chile

Abstract

Research worldwide highlights the lack of teachers’ assessment literacy and shows their beliefs and feelings about being unprepared to face classroom assessment. The same reality has occurred in Chile (Latin America), where participants in this investigation expressed their lack of assessment literacy during their tertiary education. Therefore, following the interpretative paradigm with a qualitative approach, this study tried to reveal how primary school teachers from Chile are prepared for classroom assessment, and if their knowledge of assessment literacy has an impact on their classroom assessment practices. Primary school teachers and university tutor teachers were part of the study (n = 12). Tutor teachers also shared their university study program of the assessment module they taught, which was analyzed and compared with the participants’ answers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. Themes and codes were defined to organize the data and were analyzed using the discourse analysis technique. The findings of this study reveal that primary school teachers from Chile would prefer a better initial teacher education to improve their performance. Moreover, they manifested the necessity of ongoing support in their professional development to enhance their assessment literacy, and consequently, strengthen the quality of their teaching-learning process inside the classroom.