Self-assessment as a powerful tool for professional growth of teachers and professional standards

Abstract

Bakhmat L.V. Self-assessment as a powerful tool for professional growth of teachers and professional standards.

Introduction. Forming the competencies of modern teachers is getting more and more difficult. Therefore, professional standards are carefully designed in order to make a basis - the so called a benchmark for evaluating teaching performances and for building necessary skills. Around the world, self-assessment is considered a powerful motivating tool for professional development.

Purpose. The article is aimed at analyzing professional standards and the importance of selfassessment.

Results. According to numerous research data, a positive tendency of pedagogical education continuation was proven. Along with the data, a growing interest of teaching workforce in lifelong learning was revealed. Moreover, teacher trainers point it as an essential element of successful performance. To guarantee highly effective teaching, it's necessary to be adequate in assessing own practices. Generally, self-assessment is believed to be a continuing process of evaluating performance effectiveness to determine required improvements. To evaluate the current level of self-assessment various frameworks are used worldwide. Traditionally, most of them use the domains introduced by Charlotte Danielson. Still, it's strongly recommended to combine self-assessment techniques with peer feedback.

Originality. Analyzing the definition of self-assessment and the role it plays in the frameworks designed for professional development is incredibly important.

Conclusion. A driving force for professional growth, self-assessment is crucial for pedagogical workforce. Several tools are applied for adequate evaluation. They are aimed at performances and improvements.

Key words: professional standards; professional assessment; self-assessment; reflection; teaching practices; self-development; education system; lifelong learning; peer feedback.

Introduction

Nowadays, the fast changing world sets new standards for teachers' competencies. The main one focuses on self-improvement. The thing is, despite endless resources aimed at pedagogical advancements, sometimes it is challenging to detect skills to improve. Assessment is a helpful way to find answers to important questions about selfdevelopment. It concentrates on outlining lacking training or experience. Necessary in any career, it is increasingly essential in teaching. Reflective teachers are good teachers. Each time they teach a lesson they learn it themselves; they evaluate work done and progress achieved. Moreover, self-critical evaluations allow space for improvements, adjusting experience and techniques for better results next time.

Teachers are held responsible for inspiring interest and driving students to success. Aspiring excellence is a key feature of qualified teachers and lifelong education supplies a basis for highly demanded professional development.

The purpose of the research is determined by the necessity to analyze professional standards and the role of self-assessment as a benchmark for evaluating teaching performances.

Results

Numerous researchers have invested much time and effort into studying the quality of education and assessment techniques. S. Arkhanhelskyi analyzed pedagogical changes. Yu. Babanskyi searched the ways to solve theoretical and methodological problems in educating schoolchildren. Lots of other Ukrainian and Russian well-known researchers paid much attention to optimizing education system, including D. Horbatov, L. Davydova, A. Lieontiev, M. Korolov, Nesterov, S. Pavlova, T. Stepanova, Yu. Shapran etc. L. Bachman, C. Bruce, C. Danielson, R.C. Gardner, R. Marzano, J. A. Ross and others have published works about upgrading education to the contemporary needs of the society and promoting assessment techniques.

Taking into account growing demands on teachers, the UK, the US, Australia and a great many other developed countries have established centers for developing criteria of teachers' professionalism and setting significant goals. To be exact, in Australia there is the Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, which is committed to enhancing educational outcomes by leading and influencing improvements. It lists not only professional standards but also contains self-assessment and reflection consisting of five categories: reflection on practice (stimulates reflections on professional engagement, knowledge and practice), performance and development framework activity cards (to encourage discussions and reflections concerning student feedback, using evidence for improvement measurements etc.), learning from practice (to inspire teachers to non-stop reflect on practice), professional learning charter stimulus cards (to offer support and guidelines when dealing with professional learning in schools), the essential guide to professional learning: evaluation (the features of a top quality professional learning environment and culture). According to 2016 data on initial teacher education, with a 3% increase in comparison with previous years, over students commenced 367 accredited programs across the country. Besides, the number of postgraduates has also increased [1].

The positive tendencies of success rates for further education take place in the UK, too. The rates have grown greatly - from 59 per cent in 2000 to 75 per cent in 2004 [2]. Further increases are expected.

In 2004, the British Government turned to Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK) to create new professional teaching standards. The major objective is to clear and update relevant standards that new entrants to the education system are expected to demonstrate with stressing a particular area of specialism competence. It was a part of the program Equipping Teachers for the Future in order to bring up-to-date roles and responsibilities teachers, tutors and trainers are to meet in modern society. It is also aimed at improving general quality of teaching practices, supporting growing professionalism of the pedagogical workforce and furthering the education system.

All over the world, researchers have agreed about the importance of self-assessment as a powerful tool for professional development. It's mainly used for brushing up on knowledge, identifying possible interests or values to bring long-term satisfaction from pursuing career goals. It is even applied in medicine. For instance, the American College of Gastroenterology offers 300 questions with photographs and illustrations in a self-assessment test [3]. On its website there is a sample available. The detailed examination is created as a part of the Postgraduate Course and is considered an important teaching tool. It is helpful for graduating students and established practitioners for a broad clinical update or recertification.

Discussing the issue of self-assessment, it's crucial to clear the definition. The English Oxford Living Dictionary suggests it is a performance at a job or learning task compared to an objective standard. Ross and Bruce define self-assessment as «a powerful technique for self- improvement» [4].

David Boud has an extensive collection of published works about self-assessment. He sees it as «the act of questioning is the act of judging ourselves and making decisions about the next step». The professor has contributed much to research and teaching development in adult, higher and professional education. For adequate assessment, prof. D. Boud recommends combining peer and self-assessment by using checklists, cover sheets and feedback requests [5].

The State Department of Education in Idaho defines the purpose of self-assessment as a tool «to allow educators to reflect on their practice, identifying their own professional strengths and areas of development» [6].

In short, self-assessment is a continuing process of evaluating performance effectiveness to determine required improvements.

Teacher self-assessment forms come in every shape and size, so to say. However, their major priority is to help identify at least one competency as a strength and at least one as an area for development. Moreover, keeping records of previous evaluations and any other relevant information explains your choice of competencies.

For example, the State Department of Education in Idaho has the Professional Practice Strength and Area for Development Form, which consists of four domains: planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction, professional responsibilities.

In the State of New York, the Teacher Self-assessment guide has been developed with multiple cornerstones. Effective teaching is impossible without proper classroom management, so organization, rules and procedures are at the heart of the Guide. Positive relationships must be the most important component of successful teaching and learning. For Charlotte Danielson they are respect and rapport, for Marzano - effective relationships etc. The third dimension is student engagement and enjoyment, ideal for motivation. A culture of thinking and learning is another cornerstone for creating important outcomes, investing in activities and assignments. Getting ready for learning is a process itself. In language teaching, it's warm-ups. To enrich knowledge efficiently, the step of preparing students for new learning is a must. Then it's time to begin presenting new learning by using proper techniques to make sure learning is smooth and natural. After initial acquisition of material the stage of deepening learning takes place. There teachers answer the following question: Providing a wide variety of resources (e.g., manipulatives, models, learning centers, multimedia) to enhance practice and learning? Assigning purposeful and grade-appropriate homework for students to practice and reinforce learning? After practicing students get to applying learning. It's time to prepare answers to questions like Aligning your summative assessments with learning goals and targets? Designing culminating assessments that require students to transfer their learning in meaningful ways? Reflection is the final stage. Teachers focus on helping students reflect on and celebrate learning and professional practice.

In this framework, novice/developing/proficient/expert rating scales are used [7].The Guide is identical to Charlotte Danielson's Framework for teaching as it completely mirrors ten dimensions developed by her.

In Australia, the National Quality Standard has been developed. It focuses on the importance of using self-assessment and reflection to evaluate practices. They help to identify both strengths and areas for improvements. Keeping track of performance analysis is a good idea. Australian educators recommend getting a personal reflective journal to analyze performance and motivate changes for further actions [1].

In 2014, the Education and Training Foundation of England made new Professional Standards positioning them not only as a set of competencies but mainly as empowering aspirations. As a result, the Excellence Gateway was created after testing the Standards in workplaces. To identify potential needs of teaching staff due to confidence and the Standards, a self-assessment method was needed. So Easton & Otley College came up with two tools. The first is paper-based. It consists of 20 Professional Standards teachers need to self-assess as the most powerful or the weakest. When agreeing with a statement, 6 is scored; in case of total disagreement - 1. The first domain - Professional Values and Attributes - stimulates reflections on performances, innovations, enthusiasm etc. The second - Professional Knowledge and Understanding - focuses on field knowledge, in theory and practice. The third - Professional Skills - is aimed at ensuring the best outcomes of learners. The total score can be in the range of 20-120. Experts advise to compare results of previous and current tests in order to evaluate progress. The other tool is online [8].

Ross and Bruce developed another self-assessment tool. It is web-based and contains certain definitions and rubrics which proved to be also efficient for peer feedback as the common language and rates were used. It is important to influence teacher's definition of mastery to recognize excellence, select improvement goals based on teaching standards, organize professional communication and feedback with peers and increase external change agents influence on teaching practice. The case study was for mathematics teachers. The researchers made a conclusion that self-assessment is constructive but insufficient and should be strengthened with other professional growth strategies: peer coaching/observations etc. The following refined model of self-assessment as a tool for teacher change was designed [4].

When it comes to languages, the number of self-assessment tests is undoubtedly endless. They are also referred to as placement tests and consist of multiple choice questions. The major issue of assessing the level of mastering a language is about the necessity of evaluating four spheres - writing, listening, speaking and reading - in the right way. However, most online tests deal with checking grammar and vocabulary. On the site of International Language Home stays, there is an English evaluation test [9]. There it is possible to both do a multiple choice test and write a letter. A host teacher is to evaluate students' knowledge. All in all, 90 minutes are allowed without any extra help, including dictionaries, books etc.

Pict. 1. The refined model of self-assessment as a tool for teacher changes

self assessment professional teacher

All in all, professional development of teachers, tutors and practitioners is to last a lifetime. To prove the point, Sustainable Development Goals [10] were developed by the UN.

Conclusion

Self-assessment is considered as a driving force for professional growth. It's especially important for pedagogical workforce. To evaluate current self-assessment and boost it to the adequate level, numerous tools are applied around the world. They are successfully used for analyzing performances and improvements.

References

1. Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. Retrieved from http://www.aitsl.edu.au/ (in Engl.)

2. New overarching professional standards for teachers, tutors and trainers in the lifelong learning sector (2007). Retrieved from http://www.et-foundation.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/new-overarching- standards-for-ttt-in-lifelong-learning-sector.pdf (in Engl.)

3. ACG Online Self-Assessment Test. Retrieved from http://gi.org/cme-moc-and-meetings/self-assessment- test/ (in Engl.)

4. John A. Ross, & Cathy, Bruce (2005). Teacher Self-Assessment: A Mechanism for Facilitating Professional Growth. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/. (in Engl.)

5. Boud, David. (1992). The Use of Self-assessment Schedules in Negotiated Learning. Retrieved from https://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/Boud-SHE92.pdf (in Engl.)

6. Sample Teacher Self-Assessment Form (2012). Retrieved from https://www.sde.idaho.gov/federal- programs/ed-effectiveness/files/professional-teachers/Self- Assessment.pdfhttp://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/ (in Engl.)

7. Teacher Self-Assessment Guide (2011). Retrieved from http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/teachers- leaders/practicerubrics/Docs/SilverStrongSelfAssessmentRubric.pdf (in Engl.)

8. Self-development using the 2014 Professional Standards. A guide for practitioners (2014). Retrieved from http://www.et-foundation.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/5399-Self-Development-Prof-Standards_4.pdf (in Engl.)

9. International Language Home stays. Self-Assessment English Evaluation Test. Retrieved from https://www.ilh.com/tests/ilh-self-assessment-english-evaluation-test/ (in Engl.)

10. Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/ (in Engl.)

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