Connecting knowledge and practice: Mathematics teacher educators’ knowledge and use of formative feedback in Ghana

  • Justice Enu UKZN
  • Annatoria Zanele Ngcobo UKZN
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/2520-9868/i87a04
Keywords: effective feedback, knowledge, mathematics teacher educators, practices

Abstract

Abstract

The feedback aspects of formative assessment have been shown to be an indispensable tool for improving teaching and learning. This case study explores the knowledge of formative assessment of six teacher educators and their feedback practices when conducting formative assessments in mathematics modules. Data was generated through semi-structured interviews, lecture observations, and textual analysis of students’ assessment scripts, and was analysed using thematic analysis. Our findings suggest that teacher educators consider feedback to be a formative assessment tool for identifying gaps in students’ learning and for shaping instructional practices. The study also established that the teacher educators’ feedback practices were superficial, and that they lacked the expertise to give the informative feedback required to scaffold students’ learning of mathematics. We therefore recommend a continuous professional development programme for Ghanaian  teacher educators that focuses on how to provide feedback comments that move learning forward.

Keywords: Feedback, teacher educators, mathematics, pedagogy, formative assessment.

Published
2022-07-15
Issue
No 87 (2022): Special Issue on Entrenching Performativity or Enhancing Pedagogy: Unpacking the Impact of Assessment Systems on Equitable and Quality Education
Section
Research Articles

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