Assessment competency building in future physical education teachers

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PhD, Associate Professor I.B. Buyanova1
PhD, Associate Professor, President of Moscow State Pedagogical Institute V.V. Kadakin1
PhD J.A. Kasko1
E.E. Afonina1
1Mordovian State Pedagogical Institute named after M.E. Evsevyev, Saransk

Keywords: professional competence, assessment competence, Physical Education teacher, components of assessment competence, assessment competence building

Background. Modern education system development projects in Russia that are designed to secure new education service quality standards require the teachers training system being improved to meet the new professional training standards [6]. One of the key components of a graduate teacher’s competency for the service in the context of the competences prioritizing education is the assessment competence. In application to the physical education service assessment competence may be defined as the theoretical knowledge and practical skills in the physical education quality and students’ progress assessment domain. Our analysis of the reference literature on the subject shows the researchers being mostly interested in the general matters of the assessment competence and professional competences of the future teachers on the whole including the educational provisions for the assessment competence training in pedagogical university students [4]; assessment competence contribution in the academic progress of physical education bachelor course students [3]; and the teacher’s assessment competence excellence in the advancement training courses with an emphasis on the students’ health standards [2] etc.
Objective of the study was to analyze fundamentals for and test benefits of the future physical education teachers’ assessment competence training model.
Methods and structure of the study. The new assessment competence training model for future physical education teachers was tested at Mordovian State Pedagogical Institute named after M.E. Evsevyev in Saransk. The practical assessment competence training model was tested in the standard Pedagogical Education discipline (including the following modules: Introduction to Pedagogical Science and Practice; Education Theory; Pedagogical Technologies; and Physical Education: Life Safety) as a special training course ‘Modern Academic Progress Assessment Methods’ of the author’s design; plus the professional education practice to help the trainees acquire practical professional didactic experience and skills; with the 2-5-year physical education bachelors (n=172) sampled for the experiment. The new model was designed to form the physical education teacher assessment competence in the motivations and values cultivating; cognitive; instrumental; and reflective components.
The motivations and values cultivating component of the physical education teacher assessment competence was designed to develop the professional teaching personality values with a special attention to the personally important motivations, needs, interests and predispositions in the assessment domain; plus the individual interests in this professional fitness aspect.
The cognitive component of the physical education teacher assessment competence covers the knowledge (of the assessment process mission, methods, tools and technologies; design, content of and requirements to the assessment competence in the physical education service etc.) needed for the teacher’s assessments being efficient and effective.
The instrumental component of the physical education teacher assessment competence refers to teacher's ability to apply the theoretical knowledge in the practical academic progress assessment procedure using the most efficient assessment methods and tools. The component includes the following skills: goal setting for the assessment procedure as required by the missions and objects; assessment procedure planning with the progress stages in the subject field; and the assessment results analyzing skills.
And the reflective component of the physical education teacher assessment competence implies the ability to self-rate the professional service to correct the assessment procedure, with the component being critical for the professional development agenda with the individual progress forecasts.
The above structure of the physical education teacher assessment competence implies the latter being formed in a phased manner with one component followed by the other. As reasonably provided by R.M. Chudinskiy and N.V. Lukyanchikova, the assessment competence will be employed both on disciplinary and interdisciplinary bases since this competence is interpreted as universal i.e. discipline-unspecific [4]. These ideas were used to develop the practical assessment competence building model to test it in the standard Pedagogical Education discipline (including the following modules: Introduction to the Pedagogical Science and Practice; Education Theory; and Pedagogical Technologies) as a special training course ‘Modern Academic Progress Assessment Methods’ of the author’s design; plus the professional education practice to help the trainees acquire practical professional didactic experience and skills.
The physical education teachers’ assessment competence formation model required their high commitment for the quasi-professional and probation professional service with a special priority to the mission-specific values and goals pursued by an active professional teacher. Progress of the future physical education teachers in the assessment competence formation process was tested on a 3-level scale as low, average and high using the motivations and values cultivating; cognitive; instrumental; and reflective aspects rating criteria.
Results and discussion. Given in Table 1 hereunder are the summarized assessment competence progress test data of the sample split up into Experimental and Reference Groups (EG, RG).

Table 1. Future physical education teachers’ assessment competence rating test data, %

Assessment competence rating criteria

Assessment competence level

Low

Average

High

EG

RG

EG

RG

EG

RG

Motivations and values

12,3

31,2

36,8

42,9

50,9

25,9

Cognitive

4,4

30,9

32,1

34,3

63,5

34,8

Instrumental

9,6

33,4

35,4

37,0

55,0

29,6

Reflective

11,8

38,8

41,2

46,8

47,0

14,4

The new assessment competence formation model testing experiment demonstrated its high practical benefits as verified by the EG vs. RG tests – with the EG tested 54.1%, 35.4% and 9.5% high, average and low versus the RG tested 26.2%, 40.3% and 33.6% high, average and low on the assessment competence scale, respectively.
Conclusion. Assessment competence of a future physical education teacher shall be formed as required by the professional service responsibilities, with the assessment competence formation model designed on a componential basis to form, in a phased manner, the motivations and values cultivating; cognitive; instrumental; and reflective components of the competence.

The study was sponsored by the Russian Fundamental Research Foundation under Project #18-013-01084.

References

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Corresponding author: ibbuyanova@yandex.ru

Abstract
The valid legal and regulatory competence-prioritizing provisions for the modern pedagogical education require, among other things, the future teachers being equipped with an assessment competence among the other key components of their professional service fitness. The assessment competence means the theoretical and practical abilities and skills to assess the education service quality and academic progress of trainees in Physical Education discipline. Objective of the study was to offer and test benefits of a practical assessment competence training model for future Physical Education teachers. The practical assessment competence building model was tested in the standard Pedagogical Education discipline (including the following modules: Introduction to the Pedagogical Science and Practice; Education Theory; and Pedagogical Technologies) as a special training course ‘Modern Academic Progress Assessment Methods’ of the author’s design; plus the professional education practice to help the trainees acquire practical professional didactic experience and skills. Practical tests of the new training model made it possible to map out the future Physical Education teacher’s assessment competence building process with its motivations and values and the cognitive, instrumental and reflective components.