Assessment – Assessment and the Curriculum

Continuing the theme of assessment the next few posts are going to involve a trek around the QCA website to summarise the information and exemplification found there.

The QCA ‘Assessment and the Curriculum‘ page is a good starting point when considering how you will monitor the day to day progress of students as they traverse the brave new world of the new KS3 curriculum. The page contains useful links to:

Periodic Assessment: – Milestone monitoring of progress within a unit of work

Effective periodic assessment:

• is based on existing evidence drawn from classroom activity/lessons
• requires evidence from a wide range of contexts, for example observation of group work, class discussions, oral responses, class work, homework
• can be based on individual or group activities
• will be most effective where outcomes can feed directly into medium- and short-term planning
• requires a structured, consistent approach to the review of evidence
• depends upon good subject knowledge and a clear understanding of progression in key concepts and skills within the subject.

Periodic assessment has several benefits. It:

• does not require special assessment activities but involves taking the opportunities provided by planned teaching and learning
• has the potential both to offer a profile of pupils’ current achievement as well as formative outcomes (Where are these learners now? Where should their learning go next?)
• can be used to assess achievement across the whole curriculum
• reveals aspects of the curriculum that need to be strengthened
• supports evaluation of progress and the setting of appropriate learning targets at both individual and group level.

These bullets are taken straight from the QCA website. I would strongly urge all curriculum managers to pay close attention to what this type of assessment should and could be whilst subject leaders are busy considering their contribution to the new curriculum. Regular end of topic testing is not best practice! Creative and imaginative approaches to curriculum change won’t succeed if approaches to assessment are staid, outdated and have limited impact on learning.

Gathering Evidence for Periodic Assessment: – Outcome focused teaching leads to simplified monitoring

“No single item provides a complete picture, but a review of such a range of work leads to fairer, more complete judgements of learners’ strengths and weaknesses”

This link provides some exemplification of how we can capture the learning that has taken place in a particular pupil without waiting for the one-shot end of unit assessment. Ideas around visual (digital cameras), oral (recording quality of presentations and participation in discussions) and innovative methods of written assessment are outlined and some there are some helpful suggestions to try to evolve current classroom-based assessments away from the current model in terms of assessing pupils progress in working independently (without explicit scaffolding or structuring), making choices (eg. through open ended tasks), contributing to group work, etc

There is also some information about national key stage testing, but, as yet there is only a single paragraph of information. (Sorry!) I’m sure this will develop as the pilots start to bear fruit. More from the QCA assessment pages soon.

PLaTes, PiLaTes and PeTaLs

The personal learning and thinking skills (pronounced plaits, pelts and even petals depending on who you are speaking to) are the foundation stone on which the new curriculum is being built and the consistent theme that blends KS3 and KS4 learning. The philosophical shift from subject specific, content driven teaching to skills-focused, cross-curricular learning is likely to be an ongoing adaptation that will require careful nurturing and sensitive leadership. Once again, it is important to keep hold of the overall ‘vision’ of the new curriculum whilst dealing with the range and depth of inevitable curricular minutiae that will be thrown up. The PLTs comprise 6 key areas that will be developed throughout and beyond a pupil’s school life:

• Independent Enquirers
• Creative Thinkers
• Reflective Learners
• Effective Participators
• Self Managers
• Team Workers

A breakdown of what pupils might be expected to do within each of these skill areas can be found here:

An accurate assessment of pupil progress and development within these 6 areas, as well as progression in terms of subject learning and the provision of compelling learning experiences via cross and extra curricular delivery and enrichment opportunities, to say nothing of good teaching, is no small ask but a necessary goal for successful curriculum change.

Assessing PLTS

Assessment is something of a grey area in terms of information and indeed reassurance for schools thus far. It will be important not to overlook the assessment and monitoring of progression in PLTS as well as any content or subject-specific skills. Successful change leaders will link developments at KS4 as well as KS3 and as such adopt a holistic approach to developing the curriculum. The following documents will be useful when considering the role and progression of skills.

• Guidelines for Assessing PLTS in the diploma
• Developing and Accrediting Personal Skills and Competencies

QCA Support for Curriculum Change

QCA continue to provide some decent materials to communicate the philosophical “whole child” changes they have made implicit in the new curriculum. I think it is important for QCA to keep banging the drum for their work with pioneering schools, PLTs and the curriculum dimensions. Without these messages I wonder how many schools would find a short cut to a default curriculum with isolated subjects, stale pedagogy and the textbook/ teacher guide approach to teaching and learning!

The website (http://curriculum.qca.org.uk) is a wonderful resource with the information arranged in a sensible order via the menus on the left hand side of the page. That said there is an awful lot of information so it helps to have some idea of what you are looking for before you start. The case studies and video clips accompanying the content have been particularly useful.

Hot off the presses – New video clip, Click here