Professional (Graduate) Diploma in Education Preparing to teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector

1. Professional (Graduate) Diploma in EducationPreparing to teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector Topic: Assessment and record keeping

2. Aims • To introduce the importance of assessment and some of the concepts involved • To give practice in devising assessment methods, activities and criteria • To explain some common ways of record keeping

3. Learning outcomes/objectives • By the end of the session students should be able to: • Explain the uses and importance of assessment • Explain some of the key terms in assessment • Identify the types and purposes of assessment • Keep assessment records in a suitable format

4. What is assessment of learning? • The measurement of a student’s: • skills • knowledge • attitudes before, during or after learning

5. Why is assessment so important? • Students need to know where they are • Teachers and students need to identify problems to put them right • Helps the teacher evaluate their own teaching • Helps society to select people for jobs or training • Helps measure value for money

6. Growing importance of assessment • Since 1988 Education Reform Act schools have used external tests at regular stages • Information used to inform parents and for league tables • Achievement data produced by these tests is now a key “performance indicator”

7. Assessment in Further Education • The FE sector has also become much more assessment focussed • More testing on entry, part way through courses as well as at the end • Major changes to the level of recording of assessment data

8. How do teachers assess skills, knowledge and attitudes? • Work in pairs to complete the first column of the worksheet

9. How do teachers assess skills, knowledge and attitudes? Assessment may be by: • Observing practical skills • Setting a written task • Listening to a discussion • Question and answer • An electronic test …….and many other methods

10. Terms to be familiar with Formative assessment: • Ongoing: takes place during the course • Used for diagnostic purposes • Provides feedback for learner and teacher • May be very informal

11. Summative assessment • Takes place at the end of the course • Also known as terminal assessment • Normally used for certification purposes • May be a summary of competences, a final test or examination

12. Can there be too much assessment?

13. Criterion- referenced assessment • Assessment where work is judged against a set of criteria • All criteria need to be met for student to pass • Usually no grading • Student may be given a long time scale to achieve the criteria • Used in NVQs, Key Skills, OCNs

14. Norm referenced assessment • Student’s achievements are measured against those of other students • Marks or grades awarded • A good test will usually produce a ‘normal distribution curve’ • Standards can be kept the same from year to year

15. Validity: Does your assessment tool measure what it is meant to?

16. Reliability • How robust is your assessment activity? • Would another assessor using it get the same results? • How do you avoid bias? • Would the same assessment activity produce the same results on a different day?

17. Fairness • Fairness concerns all of the above being met • No cultural bias • The student’s own work • Students given equal access to chances of achievement

18. Take one of the following groups and construct an activity and a set of criteria against which their skills or knowledge might be judged • Cookery students learning to make pastry • Business students learning how companies market products • Basic Skills students learning how to set out a letter • Pottery students learning how to use clay

19. Recording assessment decisions • Paper based records • Databases • Online records