Val Klenowski

Creating Communities of Shared Practice: The challenges of assessment use in learning and teaching

Teachers and researchers in the field of educational assessment have a strong professional interest in evaluating practices that constitute effective educational assessment at the classroom level. In pursuing these goals it is fundamental for teachers and pupils to grow in a community of shared practice where nothing in the assessment process is hidden and students become assessors of their own learning. The challenge for students and teachers within present-day classrooms is understanding and learning how these communities are created. This paper is based on action research carried out to investigate our own teaching of the subject of assessment at postgraduate level. The focus of the research was to integrate current research evidence within educational assessment into our own professional practice. Such research suggests that to improve learning and indeed teaching, educational assessment must be formative in both function and purpose and must put the student at the centre of the assessment process. The paper describes the processes and procedures by which common meanings of published criteria and assessment quality for masters level coursework held by one community of assessors were shared and interpreted by students to enable them to articulate their own learning through student-self assessment.

Assessment for Learning revisited: an Asia-Pacific perspective

In March of this year, 2009, the Third International Conference on Assessment for Learning was held in Dunedin, New Zealand. Colleagues from Australia (4), Canada (6), Europe (5), New Zealand (7), United Kingdom (5) and the United States of America (4) met to advance the understanding and practices of Assessment for Learning at all levels of education. An important outcome of this meeting was a position paper on Assessment for Learning (AfL) that has been reproduced with permission in this editorial because of its significance to a recurrent theme of the majority of the articles published in this special Asia-Pacific issue of the journal. The text of this statement is set out in italics below.

The centrality of teachers’ judgement practice in assessment: A study of standards in moderation

There is a strong quest in several countries including Australia for greater national consistency in education and intensifying interest in standards for reporting. Given this, it is important to make explicit the intended and unintended consequences of assessment reform strategies and the pressures to pervert and conform. In a policy context that values standardisation, the great danger is that the technical, rationalist approaches that generalise and make superficial assessment practices, will emerge. In this article, the authors contend that the centrality and complexity of teacher judgement practice in such a policy context need to be understood. To this end, we discuss and analyse recorded talk in teacher moderation meetings showing the processes that teachers use as they work with stated standards to award grades (A to E). We show how they move to and fro between (1) supplied textual artefacts, including stated standards and samples of student responses, (2) tacit knowledge of different types, drawing into the moderation, and (3) social processes of dialogue and negotiation. While the stated standards play a part in judgement processes, in and of themselves they are shown to be insufficient to account for how the teachers ascribe value and award a grade to student work in moderation. At issue is the nature of judgement as cognitive and social practice in moderation and the legitimacy (or otherwise) of the mix of factors that shape how judgement occurs.

The impact of high stakes testing: the Australian story

High stakes testing in Australia was introduced in 2008 by way of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). Currently, every year all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are assessed on the same days using national tests in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation) and Numeracy. In 2010 the NAPLAN results were published on the Federal Government MySchool website. The impact of these high stakes tests on jurisdictions, school principals, parents and students is considered in this article. We draw on reported observations from the Australian Primary Principals Association during 2009–10 testing periods across the country and published Australian research on the impact of high stakes literacy and numeracy testing. We also examine alternative approaches that include the use of assessment evidence for learning improvement purposes and for accountability purposes. In considering alternatives to the current large-scale testing approach we draw on key insights from research on teacher judgement, achievement standards and social moderation in the context of national curriculum and assessment reform in support of the suggested directions forward.

Portfolios: Promoting teaching

This article is based on the findings of a study that examined the use of portfolios for assessment and learning purposes in an initial teacher education course in the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Progressive refocusing of the research led to an investigation of the extent to which the use of portfolios for such purposes promoted the development of reflective practice and teaching skills. Constraints and supports for the implementation of portfolios were identified through the use of observation, documentary analysis, surveys, video recordings and interviews with pre-service teachers and their lecturers. The implementation process and the teaching and learning outcomes are described. Teacher educators requested portfolio exemplars, more specific grading criteria and more examples to illustrate standards. Six principles that underpin the use of portfolios for assessment purposes, that emerged from an analysis of the research data and findings, are briefly described. An interactive CD ROM and a set of guidelines were produced as implementation resources. Details of these resources are provided.

Public Education Matters: Reclaiming Public Education for the Common Good in a Global Era.

This article argues that public education needs to be reclaimed to fulfill its role as a “democratising force” to address social and economic inequality and to respect and recognise diversity and difference. By analysing historical developments in federal policy, funding and economic contexts a case is developed to demonstrate that the role of the state has been dismantled and the public nature of education has been reduced. The factors responsible are articulated and discussed with particular reference to the impact of neo-liberal policy, the “marketisation” of education and new public management. Measures such as those taken by Education Queensland that support the development of school leaders and teachers to engage in research, development and critical debate are supported. International examples of how systems have revitalised and supported the public nature of education are discussed. These include more intelligent accountability systems that respect the professionalism of teachers and collaborative curriculum development strategies that engage with all, including those who are least powerful such as the students.

Curriculum and Assessment for the Knowledge Society: Interrogating Experiences in the Republic of Ireland and Queensland, Australia.

The ‘knowledge society’ has become a central discourse within educational reform. This article posits that the impact of the knowledge society discourse on curriculum and assessment has led to the emergence of what the authors term a new-form/re-form curriculum, and it asks whether what is transacting in contemporary movements in curriculum is less the reform of curriculum and more the emergence of a new-form/re-form curriculum. What is emerging is well beyond the discussions of outcomes and curriculum alignment that characterised much curriculum reform effort in the late 1990s. In this new-form/re-form curriculum ‘content’ is displaced by ‘skills’ and ‘knowledge acquisition’ by ‘learning’. Curriculum coverage is replaced by learner engagement. In this context, assessment also begins to take on new-form/re-form. Assessment now engages and promotes learning as process rather than as product. Two cases – the Republic of Ireland and Queensland, Australia – are analysed and compared to illustrate this shift in the conceptualisation of curriculum and assessment. Consideration is given to the possibility that this new-form/re-form curriculum represents a settlement in the contestation associated with learning outcomes and their perceived technical rationality and market focus. The paper concludes that the new-form/re-form curriculum is emerging in locations as diverse as Ireland and Queensland.

Interpretations of formative assessment in the teaching of English at two Chinese universities: a sociocultural perspective

Formative assessment is increasingly being implemented through policy initiatives in Chinese educational contexts. As an approach to assessment, formative assessment derives many of its key principles from Western contexts, notably through the work of scholars in the UK, the USA and Australia. The question for this paper is the ways that formative assessment has been interpreted in the teaching of College English in Chinese Higher Education. The paper reports on a research study that utilised a sociocultural perspective on learning and assessment to analyse how two Chinese universities – an urban-based Key University and a regional-based Non-Key University – interpreted and enacted a China Ministry of Education policy on formative assessment in College English teaching. Of particular interest for the research were the ways in which the sociocultural conditions of the Chinese context mediated understanding of Western principles and led to their adaptation. The findings from the two universities identified some consistency in localised interpretations of formative assessment which included emphases on process and student participation. The differences related to the specific sociocultural conditions contextualising each university including geographical location, socioeconomic status, and teacher and student roles, expectations and beliefs about English. The findings illustrate the sociocultural tensions in interpreting, adapting and enacting formative assessment in Chinese College English classes and the consequent challenges to and questions about retaining the spirit of formative assessment as it was originally conceptualised.

International Trends in the Implementation of Assessment for Learning: Implications for Policy and Practice.

This paper discusses the emergence of assessment for learning (AfL) across the globe with particular attention given to Western educational jurisdictions. Authors from Australia, Canada, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, and the USA explain the genesis of AfL, its evolution and impact on school systems, and discuss current trends in policy directions for AfL within their respective countries. The authors also discuss the implications of these various shifts and the ongoing tensions that exist between AfL and summative forms of assessment within national policy initiatives.

Enhancing learning at doctoral level through the use of reflection

The EdD (Doctor in Education) is a professional doctorate that provides a framework for experienced professionals to examine and develop their practice through research and engagement with relevant theoretical perspectives and professional academic literature. This type of doctorate provides the opportunity for professionals to develop their capacity for critical, professional agency, often achieved through the use of reflection for the integration of academic and professional knowledge. This paper explores doctoral students’ perspectives on the nature and value of reflective statements in terms of a product of learning and a process of reflection. The analysis of EdD students’ responses from one university in the UK reveals a connection between the process of reflection and the development of professional knowledge and contribution to practice—major goals of professional doctorate programmes. This small‐scale study has highlighted implications for the role of reflection in EdD programmes for the development of critical, professional agency. At the metacognitive level of the EdD student clarity is lacking regarding the process of reflection—the nature, scope, object, purpose, value and development—which raises the very important question of ‘what counts as adequate reflection and on what grounds’. This study has identified the need to build capacity, first, in the reflective practice of EdD students and second, in the pedagogic demands of the tutors and supervisors and, third, the assessment demands required of examiners.