Pre-service teachers' stories about their assessment experiences in Physical Education: How can we learn from these and improve our own assessment practices?

Whilst there is consensus about important role assessment plays in Physical Education (PE), problems regarding implementation practices have been identified in the literature. These include; focus on skill acquisition at the... [ view full abstract ]

Whilst there is consensus about important role assessment plays in Physical Education (PE), problems regarding implementation practices have been identified in the literature. These include; focus on skill acquisition at the expense of other curriculum outcomes, poor management of processes, negative views on the value of formal assessment and questionable implementation of assessment practices.

Recent curriculum reforms in PE acknowledge the need to align pedagogy with assessment. These reforms challenge PE teachers to come to terms with the values, purposes and outcomes embedded in the curriculum. Conjecture exists as to whether PE teachers can align their pedagogical processes with assessment so as to accurately and adequately capture student learning associated with curriculum reforms - raising questions of equity. There has been a corresponding call to support the development of assessment literacy among PE teachers to build on their existing knowledge and skills base, to take account of the broader outcomes corresponding with curriculum reform.

In my role as a tertiary PE educator, I wanted to explore how pre-service teachers felt about their preparedness to meet these challenges. This case study focused on the personal perspectives of pre-service PE teachers (n=8) about their assessment experiences in one undergraduate PE unit. Data were collected at the beginning and at the end of the unit. Pre-service teachers were initially asked about their current perceptions and experiences with assessment practices.  Following participation in the unit, they were asked to reflect on their experiences during the unit.  These reflective processes mirrored the constructivist approach adopted within the course. The identification and documentation of themes emerging from participants’ personal stories, offered rich insights into participants’ experiences of assessment. Although context bound and limited in sample size, this case study offers the potential to inform and improve assessment practices within PE undergraduate programs.

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