Abstract
In teacher education, where learning is situated in application, the design of authentic assessment is pedagogically essential—particularly in Arts education, where creativity, theory, and pedagogy intersect. While the benefits of authentic learning environments are well established in the literature (Herrington & Oliver, 2000), the specific features that define authentic arts assessment in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs remain under-articulated. This presentation draws on two related studies: a multi-university, mixed-methods research project and a collaborative autoethnographic analysis of our own assessment practices.
The first study surveyed ITE students across seven Australian universities and analysed curriculum documents from Arts units. Findings demonstrated strong student support for praxis-based assessment—assessment that integrates creative making, critical reflection, and theoretical engagement (Freire, 1970). Students reported increased confidence and pedagogical insight, identifying learning through doing, transformative reflection, and theory–practice integration as key developmental processes. Curriculum documents aligned with national Arts frameworks (Roy, Baker, & Hamilton, 2019; Dinham, 2020), but also revealed inconsistencies in the presence of expert modelling and scaffolded support.
In the second study, we employed collaborative autoethnography to examine our own assessment design. Using Herrington and Oliver’s (2000) authentic learning framework and Dinham’s (2020) interconnected Arts processes—Invent, Make, Reflect, Connect—we identified three defining principles of authentic arts assessment in teacher education: (1) it replicates real-world arts teaching and making, (2) it connects theory and practice through application, and (3) it centres reflection as a catalyst for learning (Eisner, 2002).
Together, these findings affirm that praxis-based assessment offers a pedagogically robust and transformative model for ITE. We propose these principles as a framework for educators to reframe their assessment practices in ways that foster creativity, reflection, and professional identity in future teachers.