Learning Contracts to Assess and Evaluate Diverse Classrooms at Teaching Institutions: A Study Made in Cuba and

Abstract

Nowadays, teachers and researchers in the field of Pedagogic speak of the importance of a differentiated teaching and learning; for achieving this, the process should be centered on the students. One of the ways is to establish learning contracts with the students; that is, to get into an agreement with the students about what to teach, how to teach it, how to learn, etcetera. Though not so frequently, this is applied by some lecturers, mainly in higher education; but, are learning contracts applied in relation to the evaluation of the learners at teaching institutions? In this paper the authors share with the readers some of their reflections and findings about the establishment of learning contracts in assessment and evaluation, as another way the lecturer has at her/his disposal, for giving special attention to the diverse groups of  the learners s/he is working with. The study was made taking advantage of the experience of the authors who work at teaching institutions, both in Cuba and Zimbabwe. The findings were gathered by means of interviews, the results of discussions at a discussion group and at seminar presentations, as well as, the opinions of the learners expressed through reflexive essays in portfolios. The results show that a number of lecturers do not know, understand, assimilate and take the risk of establishing learning contracts in the process of evaluation, as it should be, and that they are losing a great opportunity for giving special attention to the diversity of the learners in their classrooms