Association for Achievement and Improvement through Assessment

Conference 2004

Thinking about Assessment 

From a Culture of Accountability to a Culture of Responsibility

 

Professor B J McGettrick

University of Glasgow

In present day society, the education system may play

an increasingly significant role in terms of social

cohesion and cultural leadership.

If they are to be successful in this regard schools must

be aware of how they are to develop those human

assets for which they have responsibility. They must

feel empowered to state their priorities and be

supported in their development.

Are we looking for attainment or for creativity…

or both?

Assessment is the formal process of

collecting evidence

about the success and progress

of students as they learn.

Education in the service of Human Development

Education is often thought about for learning

Why are we learning? … To think …

Why are we thinking? ... To be human.

What is it to be human? ... Autonomous, dignified and free …?

“Amongst the other blessings (which God gives) it is to

be reckoned not least that by assiduous study man may

win the pearl of knowledge. This shows him the way to

live well and happily and its preciousness opens the

door for him to understand the mysteries of the

universe; it helps and raises to distinction those that

were born in the lowest places.”

 

(Nicholas V, Bull of 7 January 1451, Glasgow University

Archives)

“Education thus presents itself as at once preparation for life and an irreplaceable part of life itself:

Hence the good school is to be assessed not by any tale of examination successes, however impressive, but by the extent to which it has filled the years of youth with security, graciousness and ordered freedom,

and has thus been the seed-bed for the flowering in due season of all that is of good report.”S

AA Report of The Advisory Council on

Education in Scotland,

Advisory Report on Secondary Education in Scotland, 1947

Amongst the most significant purposes of education are:

Forming people

Of love, care and compassion

With a deep sense of hope

Who appreciate beauty and wonder

Who will serve the world by their gifts

Are we to value what we assess

or

Assess what we value?

Education is deeply concerned with humanity....to

raise people to distinction...to make the most of

human assets in the service of others. It is an

enterprise which, of course, has both a value and a

price.

We ought not to lose sight of both these attributes in a world which pays

more attention to prices than to values;

more attention to employment than to critical curiosity;

and more attention to the individual than the collective spirit.

The curriculum is not the purpose of education.

Assessment is not the purpose of education.

Achievement and attainment are not the purposes of education.

These are means to the end, and not the ends in themselves.

Knowing the difference between ends and means

Do both means and ends reflect our values?

Are we losing the capacity to know the essential purposes in education in our society?

Planning

Teaching

Recording

Reporting

Evaluating

Assessment in EducationAssessment in Education

A challenge for the educational leader is to move

from

a culture of accountability

to

a culture of co-responsibility.

Good practices recognise that to be educated is,

to a large degree, a corporate act. Education is

not always about decisions taken by a single

person but is concerned with facilitating what is

required “in the common good”.

This will be the common good of the school

community as well as the good of society more

generally.

Consider the role of teamwork in Ferrari!

A Model for LearningA Model for Learning

Content – Principles, Knowledge, Concepts, Ideas, Skills

Dispositions to Learning – Learning to Love Learning

Relationships

Emotional and Spiritual Space

The content

The disposition

The relationships, or

The emotional or spiritual need.

Assessment should pay special attention to the

quality of relationships… a key to learning.

What seems to be the case that each person

will have their interest in learning driven by one

of these aspects

Assessment will have a relationship with qualifications and awards. The nature of this relationship has to be clear, when it exists.

It is likely that the future will be one in which there are “hybrids” of awards, rather than monolithic schemes as at present.

These will be characterised by being

person-centred (not just learner-centred)

flexible

internationally-referenced

partly “mobile” in their style

etc

Assessment should promote effective relationships.

Weak assessment patterns can create relationships which are

• fragile

• uncertain

• threatening

Effective education is based on relationships which are

• robust

• confident

• give positive feelings

• making meaning

• critical curiosity

• creativity

• learning relationships

• strategic awareness

• resilience

• changing and learning

The Seven Dimensions of Learning Power(Ruth Deakin-Crick, Guy Claxton etc)

The excessive concerns for NARROW targets and

standards set by others outside the school can become

paralysing to creativity and the pursuit of new ideas.

Schools are not at their best when the have become

places of compliance and conformity to detail.

This is the antithesis of the open, creative and

investigative mind fostered within the community of

scholars.

There is evidence to suggest that a plateau is

reached by seeking to raise attainment through

externally imposed change.

The real need is to develop a culture of

professional co-responsibility in which change

and improvement are developed by the

intrinsic motivation of the learner… facilitated

by the teacher.

Hierarchy of Learning

Learning how to become

Learning how to be

Learning how to do

Learning how to learn

Learning how to repeat

Educating to serve society through just assessment 

The great human need of our time is justice in our

society. This is not a legal concept, or one based on a

kind of superficial fairness.

It is a deep desire to treat each person with dignity,

respect, and seeing each person as a source of human

progress serving all people through their gifts for a

better world.

We need to show that learning has vibrancy and vitality

in the pursuit of truth. It is not inert and anachronistic,

but alive in the formation of each student and of a better

community.

The emphasis is always on quality enhancement and the

improvement of learning. Education is not just about

“the good”.

In certain circumstances the good is the enemy of the

great. Schools should encourage and support great

thoughts, and not simply comply with the good ones.

Some Challenges

Are we producing the kinds of ideas which are

relevant and which dignify the lives and times

of young people?

We desperately need more imagination, and

more creativity in assessment to inspire young

people.

Self-assessment has its place;

peer assessment has its place;

group assessment is important; ….

There is a need to move beyond e-assessment to mobile assessment.

Some principles of mobile assessment :

1 Adds value.

2 Avoids imposing limitations on creativity and developing personal qualities.

3 Is complementary to and not an alternative to more traditional approaches.

4 Is developed by and with practitioners.

5 Maintains concerns for reliability and validity.

We need to find a way of motivation of young

people through offering hope and care.

Assessment is a means to the end, not the end in

itself.

The centrality of assessment in promoting hope,

justice and dignity cannot be over-estimated.

Assessment needs to be concerned with

knowledge, understanding, skills, as well as the

values and virtues of humanity.

There is a need for international mobility across educational systems

The international referencing of a framework of awards and qualifications should be comprehensive, and encompass the field from 3years old – PhD awards

There is a greater need for understanding the power of assessment in relation to

• learning

• confidence building

• human growth and development.

The greatest need among professionals is to have

the professional courage to serve those whom we

are entrusted to serve by our values and our

professional commitment.

Assessment can contribute to change in ways that

are dramatic and lasting.

Professional Ethical CourageProfessional Ethical Courage

Grounds for hope in educational assessment:

hope in a better future in which ethical

standards allow us to focus on the common

good

hope in a more just society, where assessment is

relevant and supportive of the learner;

hope in the application of ethical practices in all

assessment;

hope that the profession will sustain society in

justice and for the good of all.