Abstract:
This article reports on an empirical study exploring Ghanaian teachers’ understandings of teaching,
learning and assessment. It argues that received views of poorly trained teachers with untheorized
and badly reasoned professional practices may mask a more complex situation. In defining learning,
teachers in the study reproduced models consistent with transmission or behaviouristic theories.
However, when asked to describe their most successful experiences, teachers’ understandings were
more in accord with social constructivism. Also, their aspiration towards interactive models of
classroom assessment was circumscribed by the normal context of assessment discourse and by
bureaucratic requirements. The article concludes that, given the right circumstances, teachers can
reflect on their experiences and produce a more sophisticated account of teaching and learning. It
suggests ways in which in-service work might make use of these insights, recommending further
attention to the discursive frames of teachers’ professional reflections within dialogue and active
engagement through school-based coaching.
