The reality of mathematics teachers’ use of the problem situation to evaluate the targeted mathematical competencies, and the difficulties they face during application

Abstract

Assessment has an important role in the educational process. Its procedures and methods can either construct the educational process or destory it depending on its quality level, and clear objectives for both teaching and learning.

Through assessment, we may take decisions and procedures to treat the weaknesses and consolidate the strengths to realize results satisfactory.

So, through our study, we focus on mathematics teachers’ potential in evaluating or assessing the competencies, according to the competency based approach that claims to improve the ancient educational relation between the learner and the teacher.

The teacher, in this approach, has a motivational and organizer role. However, the learner is the center of teaching and learning processes. At this stage, the learner must clarify his / her learning and must practice his /her skills in real life situations. We also tried to show the major difficulties in practicing this strategy and we deduced that there are pedagogical and organization difficulties. Among them there is a lack of teacher training in the methods of evaluating the competencies. In addition, in the overcrowded class-rooms, teachers consequently use summative evaluation exams and neglect problem solving exams.