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Testing Religious Issues in Schools: Challenges and Strategies

Explore challenges in assessing Religious Education (RE) subjects, like critical analysis of religions and identity exploration, while ensuring validity and fostering dialogue. Design assessment tasks and consider differences in test construction for national vs. individual use.

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Testing Religious Issues in Schools: Challenges and Strategies

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  1. Workshop EFTRE 2016, Vienna: Whosefaith and whoseidentity? Testingreligiousissues in school.Olof Franck and Annika Lindskog Department of Pedagogical, Curricular and Professional Studies (National Agency for Education)

  2. Background: national tests in the social studies subjects for grades 6 and 9 as a resultof a decision by the government • Social studies subjects: Geography, History, ReligiousEducationand Civics • Spring 2013: full scale trial • Spring 2014 fully valid tests, intendedto support the determiningof marks (secresy for threeyears) • Grade 6 (until 2015): 4 x 45 min., 25 000 pupils per subject • 2016 official support material • Grade 9: 2 x 120 min., 25 000 pupils per subject

  3. ReligiousEducation in Sweden • Compulsory in comprehensiveschool (grade 1 – 9, age 7 – 15) and in uppersecondaryschool (grade 1 – 3, age 16 – 18) • Strictly non-confessional, ”learningabout – not into – religion” • Includesworld religions and otheroutlooks on life/philosophies, questionsoflife/existentialquestions and ethics • Intendedtopromotecriticalthinking, understandingofoneself and ofothers, deepening and wideningofethical reasoning

  4. Challenges for a non-confessionalReligiousEducation • Howtomake roomfora criticalanalysisof religions and lifeviewsas well as an existentialreflection on belief, meaning and ethics? • Is it possibletounite an analyticaldistanceand a personal approach ofpursuingmeaning and truth, within the conceptofknowledge as applied in ReligiousEducation? • In whichwaydoes the teaching in the subject, includingassessment and marking, influence the conditions for developing a personal and non-biaseddialoguebetweenteachers and students?

  5. Swedish national tests in RE at a glance 2013: mixtureof formats • Closedquestionssuch as multiple choice • Open-endedquestions, demanding essay-like answers • The itemsareintendedtomeasurelevels E, C and/or A • Instructions for assessment

  6. Abilities in the syllabus • Teaching in religion should essentially give pupils the opportunities to develop their ability to: • analyseChristianity, other religions and other outlooks on life, as well as different interpretations and use of these, • analysehow religions affect and are affected by conditions and events in society,

  7. Abilities in the syllabus, continued 3. reflect over life issues and their own and other’s identity, • reason and discuss moral issues and values based on ethical concepts and models, and 5. search for information about religions and other outlooks on life and evaluate the relevance and credibility of sources.

  8. Knowledgerequirements at the end ofyear9: Religions Pupils have basic/good/very good knowledge of Christianity and the other world religions and show this by describing/explaining and showing the relationship between/explaining and showing the relationship and general patterns in key ideas, documents and concrete religious expressions and actions within the religions. In addition, pupils apply simple/developed/well developed and balanced reasoning about the similarities and differences within and between some religions and other outlooks on life. Pupils based on their studies of how religions can be influenced by and influence social conditions and events can describe simple/relatively complex/complex relationships with simple and to some extent/developed and relatively well/well developed and well informed reasoning. Pupils can also apply simple/developed/well developed and balanced reasoning about how questions of life are depicted in different contexts, and how identities can be shaped by religions and other outlooks on life in a way which to some extent takes the reasoning forward/carries the reasoning forward/carries the reasoning forward, and deepens or broadens it. ….

  9. Initial reflections • Think ofsome parts of the content in the RE syllabus/syllabii in your country! • Whichchallenges do yourecognizewithregardto the assessmentofthem? • Aretheresome parts thatseemto be more – or less – difficulttoassess?

  10. Workshop task • Work in pairs: • Construct/design a test task thatcorrespondsto the corecontentof a RE syllabus, from Sweden or from another country! • Write a draft for assessmentinstructions for the task! • Whatmight be somepossibleanswers at the level E (pass) for the task?

  11. Differencesbetween the constructionof tests for the pupilsofone’sown and for the pupilsof the nation • Demand for stringency as for the transparancy and clarityofitems • Considerationsabout the abilities vs. the contentof RE – the pupils must be familiarwith the contentiftheyareto show the abilitiesintended in the items • Ensuringvalidity and reliability – a prerogative and a possibility • Systematicaltestingof formats otherthan essays • Explicit and unambigiousinstructions for assessment • Team work

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