Formative assessment (FA) has been present in western education practices for several decades. For both academics and those who employ the method, it is usually regarded as a demanding, but highly effective set of techniques and strategies, helpful not only in the assessment of students’ work and progress, but also in the process of learning per se. Formative assessment is a set of planned and interrelated teacher activities, the implementation of which helps to create a greater effectiveness of learning. It is an ongoing, dynamic process and it gives information during the instructional process (summative assessment usually does this after the completion of either an element of, or the whole instructional process) (Sterna, 2016, p. 16). FA’s aim is to get information on how a student is acquiring the knowledge and therefore identify the student’s educational needs in order to introduce a more effective learning process. The essence of FA comprises the feedback in which students are informed as to how well they did in their work, what should be done differently, what and how should be corrected and what may be done to further develop skills and knowledge (Glazer, 2014, p. 277).

The underlying assumption behind FA is based on the interpersonal skills of the teacher and the development of these skills in the student, which may help facilitate the building of a culture of communication for all participants. In this context, the twin issues of motivating students to learn and the climate of interpersonal relations seem particularly interesting. School social climate is created during any interaction between “me and others”. The authors assume that the socio-emotional climate includes relations between members of the school community and any experiences that are connected to the various events they may witness either at school or in relation to the school. Personal experiences related to the different dimensions of the school reality become the basis for a better perception and understanding of the school climate (Van Houtte, 2005; Bond, 2017).

The impetus for research in this area came after reflection that although the school social climate is a concept that is usually applied to the relational aspects of the functioning of a school, there is no evidence of its correlation with assessment, especially with the type of assessment which is founded on relational grounds – that of formative assessment. Consequently, this raised the question as to whether there is a relation between formative assessment and the school social climate. This became the base for the conceptual framework of the research.

Instead of rich English-written collection of relevant studies, there is little research on formative assessment in Polish educational studies. Apart from a few theoretical publications (and the abundance of practical guidelines for teachers) this research topic has been rarely addressed, and the connection between FA and school climate has never been examined. Gathering and interpreting Polish data is crucial for developing FA on Polish ground.

The subject of the study were the practices of FA used by elementary school teachers from three schools and the social climate in these schools. The object of interest were not simply the strategies and techniques used by the teachers but also the impact of these issues on the perception of the school climate. The following research questions were formulated:

1.           What elements of formative assessment practices are used in schools?

2.           What is the social climate in these schools?

3.           Is there a relation between formative assessment practices and the school social climate?

Research included the study on the school social climate in three elementary schools which engage FA strategies in their everyday work. The sampling of schools was purposive, as the aim was to reach schools which employ formative assessment and to survey all their teachers (N = 60) and students (N= 491). The study was organized as quantitative research in the first phase, and then in the second - as a qualitative – in a form of interviews with the view of consolidating and expanding data. This mixed strategy was appropriate as it provided a better insight into research problems. In order to define the practice of formative assessment at schools, a proprietary tool was developed in the version for the teacher and the corresponding version for the student (Formative Assessment Practices Questionnaire. Teacher and Student Form; Tłuściak-Deliowska, Czyżewska, 2018). Both versions of the questionnaire consist of four scales: (1) learning goals, (2) criteria for success, (3) learning activities and (4) feedback. The respondents were asked to adopt a 4-point response scale ranging from “never” (1), “sometimes” (2), “often” (3) to “always/almost always” (4). The higher the mean score, the greater the intensification of activities focused on a particular aspect of FA. The second questionnaire was used to assess the perception of the school climate from the teacher’s and the student’s perspective. The questionnaire “The Climate in my School” (Woynarowska-Sołdan, 2006) includes such dimensions as (1) satisfaction with studying or working at school, (2) relationships between members of the school community, (3) creating opportunities for members of the school community to participate in school life and work, (4) assessment of interpersonal relations, (5) emotional support, (6) motivating to achieve success, (7) the possibility of effective work during lessons, (8) overload by learning or work at school. To assess these, a five-point scale was used: 1 – “definitely not”, 2 – “rather not”, 3 – “hard to say”, 4 – “rather yes”, 5 – “definitely yes”. The higher the average rating for any given dimension (with one exception), the more positive opinion. The last dimension is the exception - in this case, the lower the average value, the better. As with the previous questionnaire, versions for both teachers and students were prepared. The second stage of the research was to deepen the information obtained in the first stage. Therefore, individual free interviews with teachers were conducted, aimed at clarifying the issues indicated in the questionnaires.

Based on the results, it could be stated that teachers take into account various activities aimed at informing students about the goals of classes and the criteria of success. They implement different methods involving students in the learning process and use differentiated strategies for providing feedback. The analysis of the collected material allowed to conclude that the school social climate in investigated schools is positive. However, there is a differentiation in school climate perception between students and teachers. Teachers assess the majority of the dimensions of the climate significantly higher than students. Detailed research results referring to the research questions will be the subject of presentation. The positive effects of the study concern the analysis of the characteristics of the “Polish usage” of FA, and the examination of the relation between formative assessment practices and school climate is innovative and required in Polish circumstances, as well as in the international approach. We believe that in that way our work affects the wider context of the education. The paper presentation can create a platform for a broaden discussion on a number of universal practical and theoretical issues related to the teaching practices and school climate.

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