Policy to practice : assessment reform in Maltese science classrooms

New ideas about learning and assessment have led to assessment reforms in many countries, with governments and educators introducing new assessment policies that focus more on assessment for learning rather than measuring achievement. What is problematic about assessment reform is that new policies are written by one group of individuals, usually administrators, and passed down to teachers who need to implement them within the classroom context. The shift from policy to practice is not without its challenges and there is no guarantee that new assessment policies are successfully implemented by teachers. This study explores how teachers in Maltese science classrooms implement assessment reform. More specifically it focuses on the introduction of School Based Assessment (SBA) to replace summative half-yearly examinations. Using a qualitative methodology, the study looks at the experiences of two Maltese Science Education Officers (EOs) and five Integrated Science teachers in two Maltese state schools as they navigated the shift from using assessment practices that involved traditional testing to school-based assessment practices that were more focused on student learning. The findings suggest that for the participants of the study the implementation of assessment reform was not a linear journey. The participants went through a process that involved: (i) an initial resistance to change, especially the removal of the half-yearly examinations; (ii) using coping mechanisms; and (iii) becoming empowered within a teacher community to embrace and implement new assessment practices. The study suggests that to implement reform science teachers need to develop an ‘assessment literacy’ within professional learning communities that give them voice, provide them with support and empower them with the knowledge, skills, and resources that lead to successful assessment reform.