The impact of the implementation of the educational standards on assessment and students' achievement: The teachers' expectations

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine the expectations of the teachers related to the influence of the educational standards on assessment and achievements of the students. The research included 400 primary-school teachers who teach natural sciences (geography, biology, physics and chemistry). Apart from the subject the variables matters were: gender, length of service and the region in which a teacher works. We analyzed the data gained by the use of the explorative questionnaire construed for a wider research on the implementation of the educational standards in primary school. The results show that a bit more than half the teachers expect that the educational standards will induce important changes in their work, and the majority agree that the changes will be in the domain of assessment of the students' achievements. There are some differences in the expectations between the teachers of different subjects: chemistry teachers expect the biggest help from the implementation of the standards, while geography teachers expect the biggest changes in the domain of assessment. The implementation of the educational standards will mostly limit the possibilities of subjective assessments in chemistry and will be helpful in the reduction of failing grades and, consequently, in cease achievements in physics. The obtained results revealed also regional differences related to the teacher's perception of the student's knowledge according to the cognitive domains.

Cilj rada je da se sagledaju očekivanja nastavnika u pogledu uticaja implementacije obrazovnih standarda na ocenjivanje i postignuće učenika. Istraživanje je obuhvatilo 400 nastavnika osnovne škole koji predaju predmete prirodnih nauka (geografija, biologija, fizika i hemija). Pored nastavnog predmeta, varijable istraživanja su: pol, dužina radnog staža i region u kome nastavnik radi. Analiziran je set pitanja iz eksplorativnog upitnika konstruisanog za potrebe šireg istraživanja o implementaciji obrazovnih standarda u osnovnu školu. Rezultati pokazuju da malo više od polovine nastavnika očekuje da će obrazovni standardi dovesti do bitnijih promena u njihovom radu, ali je većina usaglašena da će se te promene dogoditi u domenu ocenjivanja učenika. Utvrđene su razlike u očekivanjima nastavnika različitih predmeta: najveću pomoć od implementacije standarda očekuju nastavnici hemije, dok najveće promene u domenu ocenjivanja očekuju nastavnici geografije. Implementacija obrazovnih standarda najviše će ograničiti mogućnosti subjektivne procene nastavnika hemije i najviše će uticati na smanjenje broja slabih ocena i, posledično, na povećanje broja boljih učenika iz fizike. Na osnovu dobijenih nalaza opažene su i regionalne razlike među nastavnicima u pogledu percepcije učeničkih znanja prema kognitivnim domenima.