Teachers’ conceptions of assessment literacy

This study provides a further elaboration of the construct of assessment literacy by exploring teachers’ conceptions of assessment literacy based upon their daily experiences. Teachers’ assessment literacy affects the quality of assessments and therefore is an essential part of teachers’ competences. Recent studies define assessment literacy as a dynamic, contextual, and social construct, situated in practice and mediated by teachers’ identity and conceptions of assessment. Eleven focus group interviews were conducted online within the context of Dutch higher professional education between June and December 2020. The method of template analysis was used to develop a template of teachers’ conceptions of assessment literacy. Preliminary results indicate that teachers perceive the ability to adapt to changes in the environment as a dimension of assessment literacy. Besides, they perceive assessment literacy as depending on the traditions and norms associated with a particular vocation and their own educational program as well as depending on organizational factors such as different assessment roles, tasks, and responsibilities. Therefore, they perceive that adopting different perspectives is part of assessment literacy. Furthermore, due to the judgmental nature of assessment, teachers experience limited room to experiment with assessments. Finally, teachers perceive a body of knowledge and skills to be an essential part of assessment literacy.