Irish post-primary teachers' conceptions of assessment at a time of curriculum and assessment reform.

The study at the heart of this paper was conducted in 2017 to gather data on Irish post-primary teachers' conceptions of assessment at the time immediately following the introduction of a revised policy for assessment by the Department of Education and Skills (DES). Central to the reform policy was an increased emphasis on formative assessment and a requirement that teachers engage in summative assessment for certification purposes – something that had never applied previously. The paper provides an overview of the literature on teachers' beliefs, including Brown's (2004, 2006) Teachers' Conceptions of Assessment Inventory. Data from an implementation of the inventory with 489 Irish teachers are used to consider how they conceive of assessment, how these conceptions compare and contrast with those held by teachers in other jurisdictions where the instrument has been used and how the data might be used to inform policy change and implementation in Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]