Exploring Student Teachers’ Attitudes towards Continuous Internal Assessment: Development of a Comprehensive Questionnaire

Abstract In this paper, the concept of continuous internal assessment and a student teacher’s experience with and awareness of continuous internal assessment are introduced. Based on National Council for Teacher Education’s definition of continuous internal assessment, an attitude towards the continuous internal assessment questionnaire (CIAQ) is theoretically and empirically developed. Using the data of 560 respondents from the Indian state of Manipur aged 22–40 years old, the scale is developed for student teachers (B.Ed. trainees). The CIAQ can be used to measure student teachers’ cognitive, emotional, and behavioural aspects of attitudes, in addition to the second- order constructs of the context of continuous internal assessment, benefits of continuous internal assessment for students-teachers, benefits of continuous internal assessment for teacher-educators, and strengthening of continuous internal assessment (ten valid and reliable subscales), as well as the third-order construct, attitude towards continuous internal assessment. The scale presents excellent psychometric quality. Possible applications of the questionnaire instruments in the context of the evaluation of teacher education policies, practises, and stakeholder engagement are discussed.