Abstract
Some research studies or educational policy documents suggest that the quality of assessment in Czech schools is unsatisfactory and there is a need to strengthen the role of formative assessment, i.e. to ensure that teachers have acquired the skills enabling them to find out how the pupils understand the teaching material. This text aims to describe the functional form of formative assessmente in teaching at the second stage of Basic School (ZŠ) at a deliberately selected school and to identify the attitudes of pupils to this form of evaluation.
For the purposes of this research the research strategy chosen was that of the descriptive case study. The methods of data collection were as follows: analysis of the forms of school assessment in the relevant documents, direct observation of the school, pupils and a teacher during teaching, an in-depth individual interview with the teacher, interviews in focus groups with nine pupils from the class observed, in-depth individual interview with a school mentor and analysis of teacher and pupil documents.
The results showed that the approach to formative assessment at this school was influenced by a five-year project aimed at ensuring that in every lesson every child learned and attained the maximum in terms of his/her development, and that a mentor was provided by the school. The teacher observed in the study was then found to be effective in communication with pupils, in establishing criteria of evaluation with indicators, in providing feedback in descriptive language, and in having a well thought-out system of pupil self-assessment, and making good use of assessment by contemporaries.
The pupils involved in the study were motivated in learning, and unafraid in communication, expression of their views and provision of feedback to each other. This school could be taken as an example of good practice for the implementation of formative assessment in our education system.