Developing a Proof-of-Concept Selection Test for Entry into Primary Teacher Education Programs

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to report on thedevelopment of a proof-of-concept situational judgment test (SJT) to assist inthe selection of candidates for primary teacher education (ITE) programs. Ninedevelopment steps involving practising teachers, teacher educators, andapplicants to ITE programs were carried out to establish target attributes andto develop content for the test. The results from administering the test to 124primary ITE candidates showed a near-normal distribution, high levels ofreliability, and significant positive correlations with a range of concurrentlyadministered interview scores. We conclude with a description of the necessarynext steps needed to implement evidence-supported teacher education selectionprocesses in a range of international settings.

Keywords

• teacher selection
• initial teacher education
• situational judgment tests
• teacher effectiveness
• recruitment
• teacher characteristics
• teacher selection
• initial teacher education
• situational judgment tests
• teacher effectiveness
• recruitment
• teacher characteristics