This informal CPD article, ‘Continuous assessment of pre-service teachers’ professionalism and socio-emotional intelligence’, was provided by Liz Maxwell, Director of Partnerships at Teacher Success Platform, providers of research-based recruitment and development tools. Their school-based simulations help you identify and nurture teachers, mentors, and school leaders so they can succeed.
It is the ambition of many countries to attract high quality candidates from diverse backgrounds to teaching. It is also widely acknowledged that to do this, we need to focus on both the academic and ‘non-academic’ competencies associated with successful teaching.
Competencies such as resilience, conscientiousness, empathy, communication, organisation & planning are increasingly recognised as important. Other capabilities may be prioritised in a particular geographical location. For example, a focus on community & context in Australia is seen as crucial as teaching in regional, rural and remote communities is very different to an urban setting.
Assessing and confirming an individual’s personal suitability for teaching
It takes many, many years for teachers to develop their professional knowledge and skills and it requires ongoing professional development and support. This same developmental approach can be used in assessing and confirming an individual’s personal suitability for teaching (1. NSW Education Standards Authority 2019) Quality assessments should be:
- Valid (measure what they are supposed to)
- Reliable (accurate, consistent, repeatable)
- Fair (non-discriminatory and match expectations)
- Feasible (considers time to complete, resources, scalability)
- Authentic (applying learning to real-world situations)
They should also provide high quality feedback and facilitate reflection.
So, where do we begin?
Holistic selection matters
Holistic selection approaches help ensure the applicants chosen are well suited to the teaching profession and as such, play an important role in ensuring teacher quality. Ideally selection should involve a consideration of the following:
- Academic qualifications
- A validated assessment of non-academic competencies.
- Work and life experiences.
- Evidence of a motivation to teach.
Increasingly, more and more teacher education programs are adopting holistic approaches to identify candidates who have the potential to be great teachers and who can be representative of those communities in which they will teach. Accreditation bodies such as the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) in Australia, require programs to adopt fair and equitable approaches and be transparent about the basis for selection decisions (2. Australian Institute for teaching and School Leadership 2020).
Admission into Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs provide the first opportunity to screen an individual’s suitability for teaching.
Personal statements are widely required but also seen as being unreliable
Personal statements are widely required but also seen as being unreliable. A recent article by Acuity Insights discusses how “Research demonstrates that personal statements don’t even strongly correlate with applicants’ writing abilities” (3. Acuity Insights 2020). They may provide an opportunity for applicants to showcase their work and lived experiences as well as their motivation to teach, but it’s difficult to establish if the applicant has actually written it themselves. This is even more problematic with the growth of AI.
Interviews provide an opportunity to probe more but are more often than not, are conducted on a 1-1 basis so bias can be an issue
Interviews provide an opportunity to probe more, but are more often than not, conducted on a 1-1 basis so bias can be an issue. Multiple mini-interviews (where applicants move around 4-6 interview stations, and are assessed by a different assessor at each station) are used widely in medical education and have strong validity and reliability but require high levels of resources to conduct.
Situational Judgement Tests (SJT) can reliably and fairly assess soft skills such as empathy, communication and adaptability
Situational Judgement Tests (SJT) can reliably and fairly assess soft skills such as empathy, communication and adaptability and be used at either the screening stage (for highly competitive programs) or at entry point for teacher education programs. SJTs have been shown to predict teaching success eighteen months after selection (4. Klassen. R., Kim, L., Rushby, J.V., Bardach, L., 2020) but little data seems to be available for the longitudinal predictive validity, i.e. 3+ years of teaching experience.
Selection into teacher education programs is the beginning of the story but how can teacher education programs track future teachers’ development throughout their educational journey?
Targeted & extended assessments
One approach is for ITE providers to identify additional selection points in their programs. The number and nature will differ depending on program needs and contexts.
Scenario-based Learning (SBL) allows teacher education students to engage with authentic scenarios in a supportive, risk-free environment. SBL can effectively support teachers’ growing professionalism if designed well. Incorporating real-time feedback on their decision-making and judgement can help novice teachers build the confidence and competence they need to transition to the classroom. Assessment data from SBL can be used by teacher education providers to confirm classroom and employment readiness. This coupled with other data, provides a more holistic picture of teachers’ growing competencies.
How do we know if continuous assessment of teachers’ growing professionalism and socio-emotional intelligence will make a difference?
Attrition rates can be quite high in many countries after novice teachers take the first steps into the classroom. Reasons for this are complex but the reality shock of how difficult it can be to manage behaviour and workload are probably pretty high on the list. Novice teachers can feel really demoralised. Looking at retention rates over a teacher education program may provide us with some understanding of whether a continuous assessment approach helps.
Final thoughts
Continuous assessment of professionalism and socio-emotional competence can transform how well teachers are prepared for the realities of the classroom and could make a real difference to recruitment and retention.
We hope this article was helpful. For more information from Teacher Success Platform, please visit their CPD Member Directory page. Alternatively, you can go to the CPD Industry Hubs for more articles, courses and events relevant to your Continuing Professional Development requirements.
References
1. NSW Education Standards Authority (2019) NSW Initial Teacher Education Non-Academic Selection Framework https://www.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/noindex/2024-02/ite-non-academic-selection-framework.pdf
2. Australian Institute for teaching and School Leadership (2020) initial Guidelines for the accreditation of initial teacher education programs in Australia https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/accreditation_guidelines_2021_17-feb-2021_contents_web_final.pdf?sfvrsn=9276dd3c_0
3. Acuity Insights (2020) Why personal statements in academic admissions are (mostly) a waste of time https://acuityinsights.com/personal-statements-academic-admissions-mostly-waste-time/
4. Klassen. R.,
Kim, L., Rushby, J.V., Bardach, L.,
(2020) Can we improve how we screen applicants for initial teacher education?
Teaching and Teacher Education, V87 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X18322030
