How standardised tests impact on teacher practice: an exploratory study on teachers’ beliefs

Our study aims at contributing to the increasingly expanding international research on the extent to which teachers' views of mathematics and mathematics teaching affect the actual learning and teaching processes. In particular, we investigate possible changes in the way of teaching mathematics which teachers perceive as influenced by Italian national standardised assessment. An exploratory study was carried out, by means of an open-ended questionnaire given to primary and middle school mathematics teachers. Through qualitative analysis of collected data, we identified different types of changes and some aspects that could reveal teachers’ beliefs about the impact of standardised assessment tests on their own teaching practices.