Assessing trainee secondary teachers on school placement: Subject knowledge and overall teaching grades

Abstract

Schools and Initial Teacher Training/Education providers have joint responsibility for developing trainee subject knowledge. Due to the current curriculum and training emphasis placed upon the importance of subject knowledge, the relationship between it and overall teaching grades is of interest when monitoring trainee assessment data collated from school mentors in placement schools.

This paper reports a statistical analysis of numerical grades awarded on progress review forms completed by mentors using the teaching competencies described in Teachers’ Standards in England. It includes the assessment data gathered from two consecutive cohorts of secondary Post Graduate Certificate/Diploma in Education trainees whilst on school placement experience. All the schools were in partnership with a single Higher Education provider in the North West of England. The focus for the analysis was the distribution of grades assigned to trainees in English National Curriculum core subjects for overall teaching and two standards with descriptors covering aspects of teacher subject knowledge.

Of twenty-four comparisons, only six indicated significant differences. In these instances, more high grades than expected were assigned for the standard describing teacher subject content and curriculum knowledge compared to the standard describing pedagogy and/or overall teaching.