Pré-service teachers' professional development: Interplay between feedback seeking behaviour, assessment and performance

Active feedback-seeking behavior fosters pre-service teachers' professional development. Whether pre-service teachers are inclined to actively seek feedback depends on the balance between the required investment, such as time for feedback requests and reflection, and its return, for example better performance, loss of face/ego. To gain more insight into pre-service teachers' feedback seeking behavior, this study also took an interest in their assessment experiences and performance in their internship. Twenty-five pre-service teachers participated in the study. We collected their feedback-seeking behavior (number of feedback-requests) and performance scores (scores for the 11 assessed professional activities) from the e-portfolios they developed during their internships. Furthermore, a paper and pencil assessment experience questionnaire was administered halfway through the internship. Findings indicate that pre-service teachers differed in their feedback seeking behavior and its effect on their performance. The cost-value framework and the perceived assessment experience offered valuable perspectives for gaining more insight into the interplay between feedback-seeking behavior and professional development.