Towards developing classroom assessment literacy: Exploring teachers' approaches to assessment across cultures

Classroom assessment is a cornerstone for effective teaching and learning. However, there are variabilities in teachers' approaches to assessment due to recent educational policies, and classroom teaching and learning conditions. This study adopted a mixed method design through a sequential explanatory approach to examine teachers' approaches to classroom assessment in two educational contexts. Multistage sampling procedures were used to select a total of 431 teachers, consisting of 123 Bruneian and 308 Ghanaian teachers to complete online surveys on classroom assessment approaches. In addition to the survey, semi-structured and in-depth interviews were conducted with six Bruneian and eight Ghanaian teachers to understand how they approached classroom assessment. The findings of a latent profile and thematic analysis revealed that teachers' approaches to classroom assessment differed significantly within and between the two educational contexts, with a limited preference for assessment of learning, test design, scoring, use, and balance assessment (i.e. reliability and validity). This study provides a new framework for understanding how different categories of teachers in different cultures approach classroom assessment. The findings have implications for assessment theory, pedagogy, and teacher professional development in terms of classroom assessment practices.