Assessment, learning and standards in vocational education

1. Assessment, learning and standards in vocational education Combating the rise of instrumentalism and compliance Kathryn Ecclestone, Professor of Education and Social Inclusion, University of Birmingham

2. Outline • the effects of ‘policy amnesia’ • the aims of outcome-based assessment • 30 years of repeated reforms • recent research on content, teaching and assessment in vocational education • standardisation • attitudes to teaching, learning and assessment • knowledge and curriculum content • professional expertise • challenging instrumentalism and compliance

3. Policy amnesia • the aims of outcome-based assessment 1986-1991 • democratising assessment processes and outcomes • widening scope of learning outcomes • promoting validity as the first principleof standards – parity of esteem • separating theory and ‘content’ from skills/competence • 30 years of repeated reforms • TEC and BEC, BTEC Nationals, CPVE, BTEC 1st, NVQs, GNVQs, AVCEs, Diplomas, the Wolf review, separating vocational education, work-based and academic qualifications?

4. Policy amnesia(2) • turf wars • the creation of the QCA in 1997 • control of independent awarding bodies • competing vested interests: a camel designed by committee (and “pastured on a water meadow” – chief exec AQA, 2000) • dominance of employer representatives • overloaded, prescriptive specifications • decline of professional expertise – awarding bodies, teachers • incoherent curriculum • skills, more skills and yet more skills • a highly politicised curriculum • formal yet empty consultation and representation

5. Recent research • some high quality, in-depth studies • academic, awarding bodies, LSDA, NRDC • exploring effects of political regulation, control and lack of clear direction over 30 years • standardisation • attitudes to teaching, learning and assessment • knowledge and curriculum content • professional expertise

6. Standardisation • standards and parity of esteem • image of normal curves of grade distribution to match those of general education • summative assessment homogenous with ‘moderatable’ evidence for QA • the end of genuine applied learning? • endless ‘guidance’ (compliance requirements) • teaching to the assessment requirements, coaching to the criteria • the effects of the QCF

7. Attitudes to teaching, learning and curriculum content • endemic instrumentalism • the instruments (methods and processes) become ends in themselves • institutional ‘achievement cultures’ • teachers assume extrinsic motivation • assessment for learning, assessment of learning - assessment is learning and teaching! • content and input are ever-smaller tasks, class time is assignment working • coaching and ‘support’, ‘learning management’ to raise rates of achievement • turning content into skills (personal, social, attitudinal, learning, studying) • the demise of subject-specialist knowledge (theory, concepts etc) and the rise of ‘learning to learn’ and ‘employability’ • content is an instrument/vehicle for ‘skills’

8. The exception of AVCE Science • confident, well-qualified teachers • educational values and beliefs • refusal to coach to grades • creative use of specifications • a coherent syllabus • strong subject ‘culture’ • high expectations of students’ motivation

9. I’m a lot more comfortable with saying, “You’re actually getting a grade that is much more appropriate to what you’ve done, rather than one which we could have forced you to get, by making you do exactly what we know needs to be done”, which obviously we know happens more and more in education because it’s all results driven… There’s no point in jumping through hoops for the sake of jumping through hoops and there’s no point in getting grades for the sake of getting grades. I know that’s not the answer, because the answer is – no, we should be getting them to get grades. But that’s never as I’ve seen it and it never will be

10. Professional expertise • training in the same compliant, instrumental formats • socialising teachers into forms of assessment to use with students • skills, skills and more skills • decline of content and chances to develop constructive critical engagement • policy-determined learning and focus • questions about subject expertise of vocational teachers, particularly in schools but also in FE

11. Challenging instrumentalism and compliance? • compare our system with other countries • international framework • bring together research and expertise • awarding bodies, academics, others • show effects of 30 years of instrumental compliance • challenge assumptions of reliability and rigour • explore how knowledge and content at different levels are defined, and clarify who are legitimate stakeholders • explore how teachers translate specifications into teaching and assessment • promote better professional development • problem-based, expert-led, content-driven

12. References • 2010 Transforming Formative Assessment in Lifelong Learning, Open University Press • 2007 Commitment, compliance and comfort zones: assessment and learning careers in vocational education, Assessment in Education, 14, 3, 315-333 • 2003 (co-authored with John Pryor) Learning Careers or Assessment Careers?: the impact of assessment systems on learning, British Educational Research Journal, 29, 4, 471-489 • 2002 Learning Autonomy in Post-16 Education: the politics and practice of formative assessment (London, Routledge) • Torrance et al (2005) The impact of assessment systems in the Learning and Skills Sector, Learning and Skills Development Agency