Evidence of teacher assessment work and its relationship to their assessment identity

This article presents evidence of teachers' assessment work to further understandings of the notion of teacher assessment identity. Data are drawn from transcripts of fourteen teacher meetings involving forty Australian middle-school teachers. Using discourse analysis, we examine teacher talk of their assessment practices to distil underlying influences on collective and personal decisions and actions. Results reveal three main influences on assessment identity: the policy context; teacher collaborative networks that build shared understandings and promote self-confidence in grading decisions; and inclusion of targeted resources. The findings can be used in the continuous development of assessment practices across pre- and in-service teaching.