Between trust and control: Teachers' assessment conceptualisations within programmatic assessment.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Assessment Theory
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Programmatic assessment aims to enhance learning via low-stakes assessments, but their potential as learning catalysts remains underexplored.
• Understanding teachers' conceptualizations of assessment and their relationships with learners is crucial for effective implementation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore how teachers conceptualize assessments within programmatic assessment.
• To investigate how teachers engage with learners in assessment relationships within this framework.

Main Methods:

• A constructivist grounded theory approach was employed.
• Twenty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted in two graduate-entry medical training programs.
• Data collection and analysis involved iterative constant comparison until theoretical sufficiency.

Main Results:

• Teachers conceptualize low-stakes assessments for learning stimulation, learner preparation, and self-evaluation of teaching effectiveness.
• Maintaining safe, professional relationships is key for assessment for learning, but tensions arise when conceptualizations focus on accountability.
• Teachers experience a struggle between maintaining control and fostering learner independence.

Conclusions:

• Teachers recognize programmatic assessment's potential benefits for teaching and learning.
• Teachers' conceptualizations of low-stakes assessments encompass both learning and teacher-centric stakes.
• Design features like varied sampling and progress committees can support teachers and sustain assessment relationships.