A thought provoking conversation the other day with @YuniSantosa and @MKPolly, in relation to various workshops we will lead in the new year, highlighted the following questions assessment capable teachers and learners might ask ourselves
Tag: Edna Sackson
How might we create a report that aligns with what we believe about learning? What if we report on what we really value in learning? What if we elect to report only on transferable skills? What if we let go of expected ‘levels’ (real or imagined) and pay more attention to who each child is as a learner? What if we focus on assessment FOR and AS learning, rather than only assessment OF learning? How might we support students and parents to value and reflect on skills that really matter?
The most valuable messages you can take to your current experiments with remote/ distance/ emergency learning (whatever you choose to call it) are these:
- Children are capable, competent and creative.
- Personal connection matters more than content.
- Focus on relationships rather than curriculum.
- Don’t try to replicate school.
With ‘building cohesion’ as our 2020 focus, we started the year with a whole school workshop in which over 120 educators across disciplines and campuses connected and interconnected through a range of activities. Noticing and naming the ways they built cohesion, each time they changed groups during the morning, heightened awareness and highlighted transferable possibilities.
This is the ‘central idea’ that will form the basis of our whole school inquiry in 2020. As teachers work on building cohesion, learners will inquire into different aspects of this conceptual idea. I’m hopeful to facilitate a parent inquiry group too.
We asked parents who attended our informal session last week to sort all these aspirations into two groups. Once they got going, it quickly became clear which would put pressure on their children and which would support them in becoming well adjusted, valued and valuable members of society, content within themselves. We ask you to think about it too…
Edna, this is a great example of the power of words and the mindset that it perpetuates.
What if the arts shifted from being a lesson on the timetable to being viewed as integral to learning and as a powerful means for inquiry?
Why do governments and administrators continue to dictate not just the existence of report cards, but often the format and parameters they should fit?
What if the hours teachers spend writing and proofreading reports were instead allocated to professional learning and collaborative planning that enhanced future learning?
and…
WHY has so little changed in the four years
since I last wrote those questions?
Being in a role that supports the implementation of biannual reporting, it is an intriguing question. What I find the most interesting is how little schools are actually mandated to do. Even though they need to provided judgements (for some things) twice a year and feedback to parents twice a year (which can be in person), it sometimes feels as if we have bought into some myth that we must provide written reports and that parents want it. Even worse, everyone has a belief as to how they must look.
It has been good to see some of the schools that I have spoken to really strip back some elements, especially in regards to specialists. It always amazes me the amount of time spent by a teacher who would potentially see the children for an hour a week.
It will be interesting to see if Gonski 2.0 brings any changes, but I guess that is your point about solutions being pushed on schools. I also look forward to reading ACER’s research into the area and the general guidelines that they put forward.