A qualitative study of in-service teacher evaluation beliefs

Evaluation is traditionally seen as judgment to help teachers assess the educational outcomes. However, evaluation also plays an important role in the development of teaching and learning process as a key driving element. As evaluation is often used as a tool, it offers little opportunity for these attributes (learning environment, behaviour, competence and attitude) to develop. Thirty-one Chinese in-service teachers were interviewed to ascertain their evaluation beliefs In the classroom. The result shows that in-service teachers define their evaluation in terms of who, why, what, how and when to evaluate. Implications of this research suggest in-service teachers should have an integral role in designing a curriculum and systems relevant to the evaluation context if educational researchers are all concerned with their beliefs.