Curriculum by design: Enabling early career teachers’ summative assessment through competence, confidence, and opportunity

Abstract Summative assessment is a critical mechanism of curriculum enactment, yet early career teachers often encounter substantial challenges in designing and implementing assessment tasks that meaningfully align with curriculum goals and pedagogical intent. This study investigates the enabling conditions that support early career secondary teachers in Queensland, Australia, to develop confidence and competence in designing effective summative assessments. A cross-sectional survey of 116 early career secondary teachers explored their experiences across four domains: initial teacher education (ITE) preparation, current opportunities for assessment design, confidence in practice, and preferences for professional learning. Quantitative analyses—including frequency distributions, paired t-tests, and correlation matrices—were used to examine patterns across three interrelated constructs: Competence, Confidence, and Opportunity. While most participants had been introduced to assessment theory during ITE, many reported feeling underprepared to independently design new assessment tasks or rubrics at graduation. Confidence in assessment design increased significantly with contextualised, supported practice. Opportunities to engage in assessment creation and receive feedback were strongly associated with growth in both competence and confidence. Despite low interest in formal external professional development, participants expressed strong preference for mentoring and embedded, practice-based support. This study introduces and affirms a conceptual framework in which iterative interactions among Competence, Confidence, and Opportunity underpin early career teachers’ curriculum enactment through assessment. Findings have implications for teacher education, school-based professional learning, and curriculum policy, highlighting the importance of relational, practice-embedded support to build teachers’ curriculum capacity.