We had the second meeting of the SQA Future models of assessment working group last week. This gave the seven classroom practitioner members an opportunity to report back to the group (and several interested folk from within the SQA management teams) on how their individual assessment projects were taking shape. Very interesting presentations  followed from from Neil Winton, Robert Jones, Ian Stuart, Caroline Breyley, Kenney O’Donnell and Donald Macleod and myself on the different assessment activities we are developing and trialling around the country from Shetland and Perth to Glasgow, and Islay to North Berwick. My own work has been focussing very much on formative assessment, using questioning as a means of assessment which drives learning. I’m doing this in two ways. One is students writing assessment instruments which are then attempted by others, and marked by yet another different group, thus giving each individual three ‘bites’ at the assessment cherry, with the aim of promoting deeper learning.  The other is in developing higher order questioning  using electronic voting systems (EVS) which then becomes a learning stimulus, or ‘catalyst’  where the function of assessment questions is to trigger subsequent deep learning without direct teaching input through investigations by students with subsequent presentations reporting back to the whole class on the correct answers, but also why that particular explanation is correct. The assessment by the teacher and the students (peer-peer is just as valid here) in both projects is on how each learner works both individually and in their groups. I’m currently working on trialling three different platforms of ePortfolio with P7 classes to assess their suitability as platforms for evidence  of achievement storage and presentation. My assessment projects will possibly feed into the ePortfolios  with a view to their suitability as evidence for the new national literacy and numeracy qualifications.

My thinking is based on the following assumptions..

•Assessment is currently ‘done’ by teachers/examinations to learners to test what they know, and this needs to change…

•Examinations have had their day…

•Assessment IS for learning…not for testing…

•In the future, school-based qualifications will be based on formative evidence collected by learners and their teachers and be a gateway to further study at tertiary and higher levels, or employment and training.…

•Any future model of assessment demonstrates life skills not memory..

All the projects from around the country had the assessment of the process rather than just knowledge gained as the significant  factor. The demonstration of life skills (where knowledge is never more than a couple of clicks away) such as search and retrieval, analysis and evaluation, presentation, coherence and relevance, as well as social skills in team working and responsibility and organisation of workloads and tasks to be carried out. Peer assessment was common to all as well.

What we are all now thinking about is just how we can accurately assess all of these factors to provide a rounded and fair representation of the true abilities of each learner in a way which can have some national credibility. Of course, this may involve materials and exemplars from the National Assessment Resource (NAR) which will come on line from next August but also has to promote the professionalism of the teaching profession by trusting teachers to make judgements based on sound assessment practice which involves the learners as full partners in their progress and achievement.

It’s to their credit that the SQA is now very candid about the current examination system being unfit for purpose, and that there is a need for a change. The end of the annual exam diet and a move to online assessment ‘on demand’ to suit learners and not administration is very welcome, together with the recognition that it is skills and process which should be assessed rather than knowledge. It’s disappointing, therefore that many local education authorities are insisting on keeping their 5-14 testing regimes, despite the introduction of ACfE. These are artificial tests which give nothing more than a snapshot of a student’s performance on a particular day, at a particular time and on a narrow selection of material. They are certainly not a true reflection of the true abilities of a learner and are therefore mistrusted by many teachers. The professional judgement of a teacher must surely be a truer and more accurate reflection of progress and any future model of assessment must be grounded upon this premise….and enhanced by assessment instruments which demonstrate achievement rather than memory.

Our work in this group at national level, and our approach of ‘what if…..’ is perhaps a good start in driving forward the 21st century assessment agenda. Things do need to change, and an approach such as this at local level might help shift education from a reactive to a more proactive schema…