Examining Estonian science teachers’ beliefs about teaching and assessment

Abstract

This study aims to explore the influence of science teachers’ beliefs on an educational assessment reform adopted in Estonia. Two existing questionnaires were adapted to develop a model to examine teachers’ beliefs about teaching and assessment and administered to a sample of Estonian science teachers (N = 319). The outcomes were examined through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM). This produced two dominant beliefs in relation to teaching named “teacher-centred” and “student-centred”, plus indicating four purposes for assessment, namely: “teaching improvement”, “irrelevance”, “examination”, and “school and teacher accountability”. Findings indicate most Estonian science teachers express beliefs aligned with student-centred approaches and predict positively teaching improvement purposes for assessment as perceived by teachers, both of which seem to support the implementation of a student-centred reform in the country. However, at the same time, the relatively high rating of teacher-centred beliefs and high valuation of assessment for examination purposes seem to counteract the intended reform.