Abstract:

Schools all over the world are testing their students in different ways. As a response to discouraging results in PISA-tests numerous countries have the urge to follow primary and secondary schools closely. Norway has also a set of parameters and tests to watch over schools. The teacher education has likewise been changed and more monitored to give the best teachers to schools. Assessments in teacher education are used to ensure that the teachers are fit for the job.
Since tests and exams are seen as more and more important this study will explore assessments and exams in the teacher’s education for primary and lower secondary school, and investigates how and what the students are tested in. We have been testing out alternative assessments and want to find out whether they could give better teachers.
I have looked at the formal assessment for students in Physical Education (PE) in teacher education. The assessments investigated were applied in 2019, in a course of 30 ECTS studied during the students’ first and second year in teacher education. I have looked at obligatory coursework and final exams focusing on the tasks in the final exams.
To analyse these assessments, I have looked at how the assessments were designed, how the challenges are established, what parts of the curriculum they tested, and how didactics were integrated in the exam. Wanting to find out what is need to become a good teacher I have also looked for ”Subject content knowledge”, ”Pedagogical content knowledge” and ”Curricular knowledge”, based on Shulman’s work (Shulman 1987) and his research on what knowledge is necessary for a good teacher. The result of the analysis shows a broad fan of different ways of measuring teacher competence. The assessments are diverse in their challenges, but could we be certain that these assessments bring good teachers to school?

Keywords:

Assessments, teacher education, teacher knowledge, subject content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, learning outcome.