Inclusive Teaching and Learning

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the important role of educators' beliefs as they shape and consequently influence their teaching and learning approach from the planning to the implementation stage. Such beliefs were investigated using collaborative action research (CAR) on the belief-to-practice relationship of prospective teacher users of formative assessment (FA). A nine-month qualitative study with three Maltese state primary school teachers indicated that even with the transformation in the teachers' understanding, knowledge, and practice about FA, their belief was that success of FA depends on the learner motivation, hence shifting the problem onto the learner when it might well have been a problem with the system shaping the teaching and learning context. The point that will be made here is to look at FA as an inclusive teaching and learning approach if its strategies are used to attend to student diversity.