L’ACCOMPAGNEMENT SOUS TENSIONS : LA MÉDIATION DES POLITIQUES CURRICULAIRES PAR LES CONSEILLERS PÉDAGOGIQUES

This article deals with the role of educational consultants in the implementation of curricular policies (secondary education) in Quebec. Based on fieldwork conducted in two school boards (11 semi-directed interviews), we show that these actors, neglected by research, are not neutral relays of official texts. They carry out mediation work that depends on their beliefs and values but also on strategic and pragmatic adjustments. This mediation aims in particular at mitigating the teaching-to-the-test effects induced by ministerial evaluations. However, their room for manoeuvre remains limited and the tensions inherent in their support work are exacerbated by the curricular changes of the last decade.

CAT Scan: A Critical Review of the Critical-Thinking Assessment Test

The CAT is entirely dedicated to assessing the critical-thinking skills involved in scientific reasoning and practical problem solving. While the test is found to have reasonable content validity, various issues with its prompts are discussed, along with significant issues with its scoring. The CAT’s recommended use as a “model” for curricular changes, called CAT Apps, is criticized as “teaching to the test.”

Student Evaluations and the Performance of University Teaching: Teaching to the Test

What do course evaluation questionnaires (CEQs) do to our teaching and to our perceptions of ourselves as teachers? We are all early- to mid-career academics at a midsized Canadian university who explore how course evaluation questionnaires have affected our academic identities. By using autoethnography and critical reflection, we examine how CEQs shape and restrict our teaching identities as well as the identities of our students. Alternative ways of assessing teaching excellence and promoting communities of inquiry are explored.

Examining the Existence of “Teaching to the Test” at SSC Level in Bangladesh

The paper aims at examining the influence of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) English language test on teaching in the existing CLT-based teaching context in Bangladesh. It is a fact that SSC test results continue to influence the total educational career of a student including his admission into Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) level and subsequently at tertiary level study. Later on, SSC result is one of the vital determinants of his employment. As a result, the washback effect i.e. effect of test (SSC EFL tests) on teaching and learning of this high stakes test cannot be ruled out. The overwhelming use of test results in different academic and professional affairs in the context of Bangladesh has made the effect of washback a distinctive educational phenomenon. This study presents preliminary research findings on the SSC EFL test’s influence on teaching in Bangladesh by applying various methodological techniques such as classroom observation and teacher interview in sampled schools located in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The analysed data revealed that SSC EFL test technique is one of the driving forces that shape teaching. Teachers’ teaching is confined to only those tasks and activities which are commonly set in the tests. Now it is difficult to deny that that teaching to the test is a harsh reality at SSC level classrooms in Bangladesh.