Ctlls – the Principles and Practices of Assessment

Ctlls – the Principles and Practices of Assessment

Assessment is a vital element in the learning process to aid both the teacher and learner’s understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. It evaluates if learning has taken place and helps to aid teacher’s planning to ensure that the student meets the learning objectives.

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Teachers carry out assessment for a multitude of reasons. Data is required by managers and the institution for which they work, and ultimately can affect funding levels. Students themselves often desire a grade to understand how they are progressing in class compared to their peers.

For many it is motivational, although for some this can have the opposite effect.

This is why detailed and structured feedback is so important, as it can be motivational and celebrate achievements, even if they are limited. Assessment is critical because as Scales comments, “Without some form of assessment it would be impossible to ascertain whether progress has been made by all or just some of our learners.” (2008, p.176)

There are five main purposes of assessment:
•initial assessment;
•diagnostic assessment;
•formative assessment;
•summative assessment;
•ipsative assessment.

The initial assessment happens before a course even begins as it includes guidance during enrolment; it looks at prior learning and skills and helps to show what a learner may be capable of, as well as their current level of ability in the chosen subject. It is a chance for the learner to showcase their abilities and express their future career goals.

It can identify that a particular course is unsuitable for the learner, which is important to understand before the course begins to ensure a positive experience for the learner and to prevent withdrawals, which affects the institution’s success rates.

All students enrolling on a vocational course at College are required to work towards a Level 2 qualification in Functional Skills English, which is the subject that I teach. As part of the initial assessment process they have to sit a short literacy paper which gauges what level of diagnostic assessment will be most suitable for them to complete at the start of term.

As part of my initial assessment process with new students I like to ask them to self-assess their own reading and writing skills by completing a Reading and Writing Self-Assessment. (See Appendix 1.) These comments can be very enlightening and tell me more about their learning personality than a test paper.

Although for some students who dislike the subject and can’t be bothered, they just tick yes or no to everything and do not give it proper and careful thought. This obviously serves no purpose and renders the self-assessment useless………

Ctlls – the Principles and Practices of Assessment

Ctlls – the Principles and Practices of Assessment