Relationship between Teachers’ Professional Qualifications and Assessment Practices Using Scaffolding Techniques: A Moderating Role of Teaching Experience

The quality of classroom assessment practices is becoming a serious point of determination of effective teaching and learning in students. The paper has investigated the contextual relationship between teaching experience and the moderating role of professional qualifications of teachers and the association between teacher’s professional qualification and assessment practices using the scaffolds techniques. The study followed positivist research paradigm and adaptive quantitative survey design. The sample used was a sample of 550 secondary school teachers who were sampled proportionately and stratified in District Haripur, Pakistan. Professional qualifications, teaching experience and scaffolded assessment practices were measured using a structured questionnaire. The SPSS was used in order to perform the descriptive statistics, multiple regression, and moderation analysis. The results showed that professional qualifications found non-significant predictor of the use of scaffolding-based assessment practices. The moderation analysis however showed that teaching experience had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between professional qualifications and assessment practices reinforcing the role of professional qualifications on the use of scaffolding techniques. These findings imply that in spite of the fact that professional qualification offers some knowledge on the assessment foundation, the teaching experience is essential in facilitating the achievement of teachers to successfully implement the scaffold assessment practices in the classroom environments. This research will provide contributions to the body of literature because it emphasizes the interactive contribution of professional preparation and experience learning to the formation of assessment practices, and significant implications to teacher education, professional growth, and educational policy.