Implementation of formative assessment practices in Maldivian primary classrooms

Abstract

The assessment landscape in Maldivian schools is currently undergoing change. The new draft Maldivian National Curriculum (Education Development Centre, 2012a) and associated documents, aim to realign assessment, instruction and curriculum in schools to better optimise learning conditions. In terms of assessment a key future focus involves promoting the use of formative assessment in classroom practice. For Maldivian teachers who have traditionally placed emphasis on summative assessment, the transition towards developing a more balanced assessment approach is expected to be challenging. The issues this paper addresses are twofold. The first is to discover how Maldivian primary teachers are currently interpreting formative assessment and putting it into classroom practice. The second is to determine how these practices might act as indicators for identifying future teacher professional development needs. The intent is to provide insight into the complexity of implementing formative assessment at the primary school level within the education system of a developing nation. This paper compliments another focused on children‟s experiences of formative assessment in Maldivian classrooms (Mohamed, N., & Fastier, M. (2013).