Developing quality teaching through authentic assessment and school-university partnerships

This paper examines the development of authentic assessment tasks focusing on the dimensions of quality teaching for pre-service teachers. Assessment tasks designed for students to continually put teaching skills into practice are essential to develop quality teachers. The process involved student and teacher consultation and the establishment of additional school-university partnerships. The purpose of the research was to review the school-university partnerships and to determine whether these links have been beneficial to the students and the schools involved. Forty physical and health education students in their final year of pre-service training were surveyed (questionnaire and interviews) along with personnel from schools and school-related organisations. Results indicated that the links have been well established and that there have been mutual benefits. Students found the tasks and experiences meaningful and useful for their future teaching careers whilst participating personnel indicated a desire to continue the partnerships. Timetabling issues, transport the need for coordination and guidlines for schools and tertiary institutions to follow when establishing partnerships are discussed.