Formative and shared assessment in Physical Education. Assessment to involve, dialogue, share and learn

Evaluación formativa y compartida en Educación Física. Evaluar para implicar, dialogar, compartir y aprender

This special issue, "Formative and shared assessment in Physical Education. Assessment to involve, dialogue, share and learn", is an initiative that arises from the Formative and Shared Evaluation Network in Education (F&SENE) (https://redevaluacionformativa.wordpress.com/). This network has been operating since September 2005 and currently has more than 130 members, teachers and researchers, both nationally and internationally. Although its initial aim was innovation in university teaching, through the development of research-action cycles, in recent years, 2016 and especially since 2018, its research and innovation work has been extended to all levels of education.

In coherence with the competency-based model, saving the particularities of the concept of competencies between educational levels, and taking into account the proposal of constructive alignment defended by Biggs (2005), formative and shared assessment is presented as a coherent evaluative model (Asún-Dieste et al., in press; Martínez and Echeverría, 2009) and of great sensitivity for capturing teaching competence (Romero-Martín et al., 2020). A form of assessment that, due to its formative nature aimed at "improving the teaching-learning processes that take place" in the classroom (López Pastor, 2011, p.35), makes it possible to overcome the limitations of traditional models with assessment instruments that allow teachers to carry out the complex task of assessing by competences. In turn, these instruments must constitute a tool for improving learning and supporting the teaching process. This approach implies the challenge of changing assessment systems from an "examination culture" to a "culture of assessment", more focused on students' learning processes (Dolchy et al., 2002).

To conceptualise "Formative assessment", we can say that it "refers to any assessment procedure whose main objective is to improve student learning and the teaching-learning process. It serves to help students learn more, and/or correct their mistakes, and for teachers to learn to work better, or to improve their teaching practice" (López-Pastor et al., 2022, p. 29). In turn, the term "Shared Assessment" "refers to the processes of dialogue between teachers and their students on the assessment of learning and the teaching-learning processes they share" (p. 30). This way of understanding the educational and evaluative process, Formative and Shared Assessment (F&SA), is closely related to the transfer of responsibility to students in the classroom and their involvement in decision-making that affects the learning processes (López-Pastor et al., 2022). In recent years, countless experiences on F&SA at all educational levels have been carried out and disseminated in multiple forums (congresses, conferences, courses, ...), so it no longer seems strange to talk about it; however, although there have been many advances regarding the implementation of assessment systems, going from traditional to more formative and participatory for students, there is still much to be done (Hortigüela et al., 2019).

This special issue of Cultura, Ciencia y Deporte aims to update the scientific evidence on the implementation of F&SA at different educational levels, to analyse how it is being applied, the coherence with the competences expected to be achieved, as well as the consequences of this model of educational programming, where the alignment between the different programmatic elements is key.

This special issue on F&SA in Physical Education contains three main sections. The first is constituted of two studies about F&SA in non-university stages (articles 4 and 11). The second block is made up of six studies on the subject of F&SA in Pre-service Teacher (1st and 5th to 9th). The third block, with three studies that complement the previous one (2nd, 3rd and 10th), focuses on the subject of F&SA in the university environment, but in one of the subjects that is considered most relevant in the curricula, the Final Project (Degree and/or Master's Final Project). The following is a summary of the most relevant contributions of each study.

The first study is entitled "Longitudinal Study on the Effects of Formative and Shared Assessment on Pre-Service Teacher Education" and its authors are Cristina Pascual-Arias, Víctor M. López-Pastor and David Hortigüela-Alcalá. The results show how future Early Childhood Education teachers find more advantages than disadvantages in the F&SA system; with a high correlation between workload and academic performance, which is very positive.

Next, Carla Fernández-Garcimartín, Víctor M. López-Pastor, Teresa Fuentes-Nieto and David Hortigüela-Alcalá present a qualitative study entitled "Formative and Shared Assessment and Final Degree Projects in Physical Education Pre-service Teacher Education" (IT-PET), which concludes that it is possible to carry out F&SA processes during the tutoring-development and evaluation-defence of a very little studied subject, the Final Year Projects; showing the learning on how to carry out these processes using rubrics as a formative, feedback and feedforward element.

In the third article, by Esther Magaña-Salamanca, Víctor M. López-Pastor and Juan Carlos Manrique-Arribas, and entitled "Academic Performance and Competence Perception in Physical Education Final Year Projects", the significant relationship between the overall academic performance in the Physical Education pre-service teacher education of students and graduates and the perception of competences acquired (cross-curricular, general teaching and PE-specific teaching competencies) in the Final Degree Projects / Master's Final Project is verified, discovering that the higher the academic performance, the higher the perception of competence.

Next, in the study "Formative and shared assessment in primary school PE curriculum: Teachers’ perceptions", Fernando M. Otero-Saborido, Gustavo González-Calvo, David Hortigüela Alcalá and Francisco Javier Vázquez-Ramos tried to find out the perception of Physical Education teachers (PETE) in Primary Education on the role of assessment in the curriculum in Spain, who showed the importance that the participants attach to the official curriculum, although they pointed out improvements such as the need to reduce the number of evaluative references and increase the number of orientations. They also point out the importance of motor skills as the axis of assessment and the need for the cognitive, motor and socio-affective spheres to be integrated into the assessment references.

The fifth article, "Assessment for Learning in face-to-face and in emergency virtual teaching at university: satisfaction and frustration of students’ Basic Psychological Needs", presented by Eloísa Lorente-Catalán, Ana Flávia Leão Pereira, David Castel and Alfredo Joven, contributes to expanding the empirical evidence of the effect of assessment for learning on student motivation in the context of Physical Education Teacher Education, both in face-to-face and virtual teaching.

Next, Carolina Nieva Boza, Lurdes Martínez-Mínguez and Laura Moya Prados analyse the students' perception of the "Possibilities and limitations of formative assessment in Physical Education in the Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education" in an educational proposal linked to a Tutorial Learning Project (TAP), concluding that they consider the F&SA very favourable for improving the acquisition of professional skills and the development of functional and meaningful learning; however, they express the need to strengthen the negotiation of assessment at the beginning and a stable and experienced teaching staff.

The following study, "Formative assessment and pre-service teacher education: previous, current and prospective experiences", by Rodrigo Atienza, Alexandra Valencia and Victor M. López-Pastor, delves into the experiences of F&SA in PE of a group of students, revealing that most of them have not experienced these models during their compulsory education; however, after experiencing it in a subject of the Degree, they perceive this model of evaluation very positively, so that a large part of the participating students express their intention to apply F&SA in their future professional practice.

The eighth article, "Formative and Shared Assessment and Feedback: an example of good practice in Physical Education in Pre-service Teacher Education", carried out by Miriam Molina Soria, Víctor M. López-Pastor, David Hortigüela-Alcalá, Cristina Pascual-Arias and Carla Fernández-Garcimartín, is a longitudinal study in a PE subject in the Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education, with F&SA, which shows the existence of significant differences in the students' self-perception of the competences between the beginning and the end of the subject, mainly in the specific ones of PE; and that it helps to improve academic performance.

Next, Sonia Asún-Dieste and Marta Guíu Carrera present the article "Use of formative assessment in Physical Education teacher education in Secondary School: a case study", in which they analyse the presence of formative assessment in general and specific subjects in the Master's Degree in Teacher Training (PE) and explore the teachers' perceptions of it, finding that there are no significant differences between general and specific subjects, although there is diversity among teachers in terms of knowledge of this form of assessment and its implementation: there is an incipient interest, however, a context that is unfamiliar with this practice and the lack of training of some teachers hinder it.

The following article is written by Sonia Asún Dieste, Mª Rosario Romero-Martín, Esther Cascarosa Salillas and Isabel Iranzo Navarro and is entitled "Assessment in Secondary Education, is it formative and shared? Exploring perceptions of professionals and future professionals in Education", specifically of PE teachers and tutors of the Master's Degree in Teacher Training and trainee students of the same, showing great disparity in perceptions: while the use of summative assessment seemed to be perceived as predominant in the high school studied, innovative and engage teachers try to foment the formative assessment.

Finally, Mª Rosario Romero-Martín, Daniel Caballero-Julia, Encarnación Ruiz-Lara and Nuria Ureña-Ortín, question in their study "Analysis of Final Year Project Syllabi in Physical Education Teacher Education: Is The Assessment Formative?" Its aim was to characterise the teaching guides of the Final Year Projects (FYP) in IT-PET and to analyse their formative capacity, in order to find out to what extent the assessment systems are aligned with the current competence paradigm. This work provides a model for analysing the assessment systems, which allows us to determine their alignment with the educational model in order to assess the quality of the FYP programmes, both on the part of the teaching staff and the institutions.

All the research included in this special issue aims to deepen this area of knowledge by providing scientific evidence, with the intention of optimising the training processes in the different educational stages, promoting the internal coherence of the programmes (Biggs, 2005) and an optimal transfer between university training and the professional development of teachers at different educational levels (Barrientos Hernán et al. 2019).

Finally, as editors of this special issue, we would like to thank all the authors who are part of it for their hard work, commitment, and enthusiasm; and all those members of F&SENE who have participated in the different studies. We would also like to thank the editors of the journal Cultura, Ciencia y Deporte for the opportunity to coordinate the special issue.

References

Cultura, Ciencia y Deporte
ISSN: 1696-5043
Vol. 18
Num. 55
Año. 2023

Formative and shared assessment in Physical Education. Assessment to involve, dialogue, share and learn

EncarnaciónMª RosarioNuria Ruiz LaraRomero MartínUreña Ortín
Catholic University of MurciaUniversity of ZaragozaUniversity of Murcia,SpainSpainSpain