Teachers' use of a self-assessment procedure: the role of criteria, standards, feedback and reflection

This article reports on the way teachers assess their own coaching competencies regarding the development of vocational education students' reflection skills. The participating teachers used a self-assessment procedure in which they had to judge themselves with the help of criteria and standards, received feedback from a colleague based on the same criteria and standards, and wrote a reflection report about their learning experiences. To investigate teachers' use of the assessment procedure, completed self-assessment forms, completed colleague assessment forms, video-taped feedback conversations with peers (colleagues) and written reflective reports of 24 teachers were analysed. Overall, it can be concluded that teachers' use of the self-assessment procedure can be characterized by: (1) slightly positive assessments of teachers about their own performance as well as those they received from their colleagues, (2) constructive peer feedback that was generally accepted by the teachers who were assessed and (3) clear and informative reflective reports by the teachers mainly focusing at their own actions resulting from the self-assessment. This study shows that teachers can benefit from a self-assessment procedure and improve their competencies in coaching students' reflection skills.