Assess Label Repeat

Have schools moved into a dangerous results driven factory-styled arena churning out students who will ‘learn on demand’ stimulated solely by ‘results’?

New Zealand has a reputation for a strong assessment focus on teaching and learning and this seems to be on the increase. Yet the proverbial pig won't gain weight by increasing the number of times you weigh it. There's not a lot of time for creative expression or learning for the sake of well, learning. The pressure is on.

At primary school level the curriculum is bursting with subjects and topics and planning. There's no room to ditch the lessons of the day in favour of studying that unexpected flurry of snow that appeared overnight. Teacher autonomy over authentic learning opportunities seems to be a thing of the past or what 'other' countries do but not here. I'm referring of course to Finland who are leading the world with less assessment and more actual learning.

Over here children need to be seen to be improving assessment by assessment and there's a lot of assessing and marking and more assessing going on in both the Primary and Secondary School sectors.

For High Schools there is no longer an end of year burst to study for exams, it's a constant and the stress is showing for many, on teachers and students alike.

I was around in the early days of the inception of the Secondary Schools National Certificate in Educational Achievement in New Zealand. I was excited by the concept that a student could ‘Achieve with Excellence’ if they could research and critically evaluate information. This would involve drawing conclusions reliant on developing original creative thought processes merged with research. Exciting!

5-7% of students in a class were likely to ‘Achieve with Excellence’ because they’d be 'those' diverse creative thinkers who'd been bored in the classroom but now had a challenge. Sweet!

Depending on the subject they would have to show application of their knowledge by solving problems or further investigating/developing/evaluating information. Yes!

Students would be required to show creative and divergent thinking by assimilating facts/skills and applying them. Exciting!

I remember teaching Year 10 Mathematics at the time and preparing my students for NCEA the following year by having a pile of problem solving activities on hand at the end of each class. I was surprised by who was able to solve these problems as some were the regular ‘C grade 50% pass’ students. They were awakened by these challenges.

NCEA was going to educationally stimulate and these currently dormant minds. Yes!

I also taught English and Drama and Religious Education during this time. Such opportunity for delving deeper creating learning opportunities to strategise/formulate/create. Education heaven!

‘Achieved’ seemed such a satisfying word.

"Congratulations you Achieved."

A standard of attainment with clear expectations was set for every topic assessed across the nation and schools could design their own tasks. Tasks had to meet the standards and could be adapted to suit the culture of a school. Brilliant!

I imagined smiley faced students revelling in the success of ‘meeting the requirements’. They could describe, explain or analyse accordingly. They could apply, investigate, develop and structure. These are just a few of the smorgasbord of delicious academically credible vocabulary that would be attached to each students official national qualifications.

Gone would be the days of the route-learned regurgitated memory-based information that students churned out under the old ‘system’ (it wasn’t as bad as that across the spectrum but close). Students would be assessed throughout the year although some ‘external’ examinations would be in place and for good reason. Less pressure and a more balance spread of application. What an excellent way to develop a work ethic and time management skills.

Schools could write their own ‘tasks’ to meet the national standard. What freedom to be able to produce more meaningful tasks specific to a school’s unique culture! Authentic learning was going to be given new life and the options for assessing as vast as student diversity.

So how's it all going?

The worst case scenario has resulted in the push to 'get the credits' surpassing the very essence of learning.

Schools are pressured to showcase top results. No one can be seen to be 'failing' as that won't 'look good.' What's happened to the benefits of failing, the lessons learned the motivation for the future?

'Standards' for achievement are variable. There is a lot of assessment going on.

An 'Achieved' result seems to mean that you didn't really make the standard at all; it seems to be more of a sympathy, you almost got there token handout. Like receiving socks and undies for Christmas gifts.

80 credits are what is required to pass at each level. While some schools are opting for quality credits others are pushing for many credits.

Maybe it's time to put authentic learning back on the table by minimising standardisation (not discarding it), ensuring students can communicate effectively, give the teacher autonmy to make professional decisions about students, understand equanimity and strategise/formulate/create confidently.

Humans learn at different paces. It's not a race, we're not the same and this constant pushing of children from 5-18 into neatly labelled boxes is not working.

Food for thought.

Monica Moore is a Professional Speaker who brings a unique mix of experience in education, business and theatre to her work. She founds her work on Equanimity.