RicercAzione
Keywords
Teacher professional development research
Formative assessment
Middle school
Reflective practice
Focus groups
Authors
Andrea Ciani, Elisa Guasconi, Cristiano Corsini

Abstract

The paper presents some exploratory analysis regarding the impact of a teacher professional development research programme taking place from 2017 to 2020. It has a quasiexperimental design, and surmises that an in-service training programme characterised by a teacher professional development research approach and targeted at familiarising teachers with formative assessment strategies has spinoffs on teachers’ professional skills, in terms of changes to teachers’ assessment practices and attitudes. An experimental programme carried out by teachers in the classroom fell within this quasi-experimental design. The teacher professional development research process involved teachers from a specific school section at a middle school, providing for the introduction and use of these strategies over three years, with the support of a researcher-trainer who paid attention to the specific needs of the context. In this article, teachers’ perceptions of the repercussions fallout and aspects relating to the teacher professional development research process were analysed using a focus group.

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