Abstract:

Canadian provinces each have their own established system of education quality assurance. While the approaches differ, provincial quality assurance systems review programs to ensure the quality of degrees offered, monitor the frequency and efficacy of institutional reviews, and/or set guidelines to audit existing programs. In Alberta, the Department of Education together with stakeholder groups takes responsibility to work set teaching quality standards (TQS) and evaluate these on a regular basis.To that end, Alberta Education has revised and updated the TQS to describe contemporary competencies for our teachers. Between now and September 2019, Alberta Education has been working with education stakeholders to support educators in learning about the new standards and in preparing for their official implementation.

The Faculty of Education at the University of Lethbridge representatives proposed a project to study the effects of the revised TQS on the evaluation of student teachers in practicum. The purpose of the project was to engage in an efficient and effective transition from the Teaching Quality Standards’ current focus on the knowledge, skills, and attributes’ descriptors (KSAs) to the new competencies and indicators in the Faculty of Education. The issue under investigation in Alberta post-secondary institutions is the alignment between the new TQS and the assessment practices in field experience. We engaged in qualitative data collection and analysis of the practicum evaluation forms used in one of our senior practicum experiences called Professional Semester II (PS II). Our work was steered by collective case study methods (Merriam, 1998, 2009; Stake, 1995, 2006). A case study is an in-depth exploration of a bounded system (ie. activity, event, process, or individuals) based on extensive data collection (Creswell, 2007). The Faculty of Education at the University of Lethbridge was one case which will be described and compared to the cases of each of the other institutions with regards to the TQS. Over a month-long period, the practicum evaluation form used in the Faculty of Education was revised in three different ways and these became known as Form A, B, and C. We asked that each of our 30 university consultants pilot the use of one form with one teacher and student teacher in their supervision group. Here is a brief description of each form: Form A – revised by taking out references to the KSAs and adding references to the six competencies, Form B – revised to maintain those outcomes from our previous form that are not reflected in the revised TSQ, and then new competencies from the revised TQS are added. Form C – revised to allow teachers to write anecdotally about a student’s teacher’s progress broadly in terms of the six competencies.

Results indicate that each form presented strengths and challenges in evaluating student teachers' ability to meet the TQS competencies. However, Form A where evaluation outcomes were paired with competencies was favoured by teachers and university consultants. Feedback also indicated that the revised TSQ, as an attachment to the evaluation form for teachers to refer to when filling out this document, be included with the form going forward. This paper describes the differences between the previous and new TQS, the changes in practicum evaluation forms that need to address these differences, and ways to work with Field partners in the future to ensure TQS are clearly understood and met.

Keywords:

Teacher education, practicum, evaluation, teaching standards.