Research on the Evaluation of Professional Competency Developmen

Topic:

Research on the Evaluation of Professional Competency Development of Mathematics Student Teachers 

Background:

The current evaluation of domestic education practicum is an “evaluation” without “value”; The teacher professionalization requires the practical teaching of pre-service teachers to shift from focusing on skills to focusing on competency; The pre-service teacher education does not recognize that the education practicum can and should deliberately promote the practical knowledge development of student teachers. These are the three backgrounds of this research.   

What:

Accordingly, the purpose of this research  is  to  develop  the  evaluation  tools  of  professional  competency  for  mathematics  student teachers, and to explore the evaluation methods of development orientation for teaching practicum.  

There are three research questions: How to evaluate the professional competency of mathematics student teachers? How to evaluate the professional competency development of mathematics student teachers? How to use evaluation to promote the professional competency development of mathematics student  teachers?   

They  determine  that  this  research  is  based  on  the  “Zone  of  Promoted Action”, developmental evaluation and reflective practice.  

This  research  deconstructs  teachers’  professional  competency  into  professional  knowledge, professional behaviors and a support system consisting of beliefs and attitudes, simply expressed by “specialized knowledge”, “practical competence” and “insistent willingness” respectively.  

Therefore, the professional competency of mathematics student teachers which is evaluated and is to be promoted with evaluation is a competency system that takes into account the “specialized knowledge”, “practical competence” and “insistent willingness”.

Guided by the methodology of design research, this research focuses on two main elements of conceptual  framework  of  practicum  evaluation:  evaluation  tools  and  evaluation  methods,  and experiences three stages of their development, trial and revision. In the end, it “produces” the self-created evaluation tools and methods.  

During the development stage of evaluation tools and methods, this research adopts the approach  of grounded theory and the methods of interview and literature, constructs an evaluation framework  of professional competency of mathematics student teachers, which includes three items: classroom  observation and assessment, lesson planning and classroom teaching, then separates out the evaluation detailed catalogues for each item.  

During the trial stage of evaluation tools and methods, this research adopts the approach of case  study and the methods of interview, literature and analysis of student teachers’ written documents,  designs  the  intervention  measure  of  “feedback  plus  reminding”,  the  periodic  evaluation  report  of  “Sudoku”  form  and  the  overall  evaluation  report  with  codes  of  evaluation  detailed  catalogues,  expounds and analyzes the trial results in the form of examples, presents the preliminary solutions for  three research questions and a complete case of evaluation and intervention.

 During the revision stage of evaluation tools and methods, this research adopts the approach of  evaluation  research  and  the  methods  of  self-report  and  “monological  date  collection”,  revises  the  interview time, the outline of interviews, the evaluation detailed catalogues of “lesson planning” and  the intervention measure, then gains the revised evaluation procedures of professional competency,  professional competency development, and promoting the professional competency development of  mathematics  student  teachers. 

These  are  the  corresponding  evaluation  methods.  And,  the  used  evaluation  framework,  the  revised  evaluation  detailed  catalogues  and  interview  plans,  the  preset  alternative results, periodic and overall evaluation report, constitute the evaluation tools of professional  competency,  professional  competency  development,  and  promoting  the  professional  competency  development of mathematics student teachers.

In combination with the evaluation tools and methods,  the solutions of three research questions are obtained.  Finally, based on a complete process of design research and what the researcher saw and heard as  an outsider, this research brings about some enlightenments for three aspects of practicum evaluation,  practicum guidance and practicum assurance.  

参考资料来源：陆珺  实习数学教师专业素养的发展性评价研究