title: Remapping the assessment landscape: primary teachers reconstructing assessment in self-managing schools

authors: Hill, Mary

abstract: This participative case study took as its starting point a current “problem”, namely teachers’ concerns about assessment in self-managing primary schools. Prompted by teachers’ stress and confusion about their assessment role, I investigated how, in the 1990s, New Zealand teachers responded to multiple competing discourses of assessment, and the effects these discourses had on their teaching practices. Central to this thesis is the notion that, since compulsory schooling began in 1877, teachers’ assessment practices have been both constituted by and constitutive of dominant educational and assessment discourses. Taking account of the Foucauldian stress on discontinuity, this thesis argues that traces of teachers’ assessment practices can be found in earlier dominant discourses. 

Evidence is presented to show that, in the latter half of the twentieth century, there was a discursive shift from education as a human right to education as a government investment, and that this shift refocussed public attention on both national standards and individual achievement. Through an examination of the structural changes to New Zealand education in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the managerial discourses that accompanied them, the reasons why new technologies for measuring and monitoring learning and performance evolved are examined. But, in contrast to these accountability discourses, it is further argued that other professional assessment discourses were also competing for teachers’ attention at the time this investigation took place. A review of the international assessment research literature reveals evidence to support the view that, instead of increasing accountability mechanisms to raise standards, formative assessment strategies are critical in promoting learning and raising standards. 

With these findings in mind, 12 teachers at two Waikato primary schools and 20 teachers at 13 other New Zealand primary and intermediate schools participated in semi-structured interviews about their assessment practices. Three teachers were then each observed in their classroom environment for a week. Foucault’s analytics of power (namely discourse, disciplinary power, hierarchical observation, normalisation and the “examination”), are used to explain how and why, even though they valued formative assessment and child-centred pedagogies highly, many teachers predominantly employed summative assessment for accountability reasons. Due to increased managerial surveillance through the mechanisms of school and syndicate teamwork, appraisal, performance management and external audit, teachers have put themselves under pressure to account for their own practice. They have done this by finding ways to meet the documentation demands of the system, and in the process produced a summative shift in their assessment practice. Furthermore, although teachers were observed using formative assessment strategies known to improve learning, most did not identify these strategies as assessment and often understood the use of continuous summative assessment as formative. To address these findings, a case is made for professional development in assessment for school leaders and education officials as well as teachers. It is recommended that national and school policies of assessment, teacher appraisal and performance management be examined and revised to ensure that they produce predominantly formative rather than summative assessment practices.

text: Remapping the assessment landscape: primary teachers reconstructing assessment in self-managing schools This participative case study took as its starting point a current “problem”, namely teachers’ concerns about assessment in self-managing primary schools. Prompted by teachers’ stress and confusion about their assessment role, I investigated how, in the 1990s, New Zealand teachers responded to multiple competing discourses of assessment, and the effects these discourses had on their teaching practices. Central to this thesis is the notion that, since compulsory schooling began in 1877, teachers’ assessment practices have been both constituted by and constitutive of dominant educational and assessment discourses. Taking account of the Foucauldian stress on discontinuity, this thesis argues that traces of teachers’ assessment practices can be found in earlier dominant discourses. 

Evidence is presented to show that, in the latter half of the twentieth century, there was a discursive shift from education as a human right to education as a government investment, and that this shift refocussed public attention on both national standards and individual achievement. Through an examination of the structural changes to New Zealand education in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the managerial discourses that accompanied them, the reasons why new technologies for measuring and monitoring learning and performance evolved are examined. But, in contrast to these accountability discourses, it is further argued that other professional assessment discourses were also competing for teachers’ attention at the time this investigation took place. A review of the international assessment research literature reveals evidence to support the view that, instead of increasing accountability mechanisms to raise standards, formative assessment strategies are critical in promoting learning and raising standards. 

With these findings in mind, 12 teachers at two Waikato primary schools and 20 teachers at 13 other New Zealand primary and intermediate schools participated in semi-structured interviews about their assessment practices. Three teachers were then each observed in their classroom environment for a week. Foucault’s analytics of power (namely discourse, disciplinary power, hierarchical observation, normalisation and the “examination”), are used to explain how and why, even though they valued formative assessment and child-centred pedagogies highly, many teachers predominantly employed summative assessment for accountability reasons. Due to increased managerial surveillance through the mechanisms of school and syndicate teamwork, appraisal, performance management and external audit, teachers have put themselves under pressure to account for their own practice. They have done this by finding ways to meet the documentation demands of the system, and in the process produced a summative shift in their assessment practice. Furthermore, although teachers were observed using formative assessment strategies known to improve learning, most did not identify these strategies as assessment and often understood the use of continuous summative assessment as formative. To address these findings, a case is made for professional development in assessment for school leaders and education officials as well as teachers. It is recommended that national and school policies of assessment, teacher appraisal and performance management be examined and revised to ensure that they produce predominantly formative rather than summative assessment practices.

year: 2000

title: ‘Economics with training wheels’: Using blogs in teaching and assessing introductory economics

authors: Cameron, Michael Patrick

subjects: economics education

abstract: Blogs provide a dynamic interactive medium for online discussion, consistent with communal constructivist pedagogy. This paper explores the use of blogs in the teaching and assessment of a small (40-60 students) introductory economics paper. The role of blogs as a teaching, learning and assessment tool are discussed. Using qualitative and quantitative data collected across four semesters, students’ participation in the blog assessment is found to be associated with student ability, gender, and whether they are distance learners. Importantly, students with past economics experience do not appear to crowd out novice economics students. Student performance in tests and examinations does not appear to be associated with blog participation after controlling for student ability. However, students generally report overall positive experiences with the blog assessment.

text: ‘Economics with training wheels’: Using blogs in teaching and assessing introductory economics Blogs provide a dynamic interactive medium for online discussion, consistent with communal constructivist pedagogy. This paper explores the use of blogs in the teaching and assessment of a small (40-60 students) introductory economics paper. The role of blogs as a teaching, learning and assessment tool are discussed. Using qualitative and quantitative data collected across four semesters, students’ participation in the blog assessment is found to be associated with student ability, gender, and whether they are distance learners. Importantly, students with past economics experience do not appear to crowd out novice economics students. Student performance in tests and examinations does not appear to be associated with blog participation after controlling for student ability. However, students generally report overall positive experiences with the blog assessment.

year: 2011-03

title: Hauora and physical education in New Zealand: perspectives of Māori and Pasifika

authors: Fitzpatrick, Katie

subjects: physical education

abstract: Discussion surrounding the concept of Hauora (Durie, 1994) in the document Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1999) has been controversial. Some writers have praised or justified its inclusion (Culpan, 1996/1997; Tasker, 1996/1997; Tinning, MacDonald, Wright & Hickey, 2001), while others accuse the writers of tokenism and misappropriation of indigenous knowledge (Hokowhitu, 2004; Salter, 2000). While existing at a political level, these debates have generally ignored student responses to and interactions with Hauora. Thus, this article intervenes in the existing debate and makes the case for the inclusion of student perspectives. My claims are made on the basis of a study into the perspectives of Māori and Pasifika students of physical education in New Zealand. The experiences of these students are related to the theory of hybridity (Besley, 2002; Bhabha, 1994), which suggests that young people actively negotiate and make critical decisions about what they think is relevant to them. I argue that the debate surrounding the concept of Hauora needs to include students' perspectives and consideration of the agency of young people in interactions with curriculum concepts.

text: Hauora and physical education in New Zealand: perspectives of Māori and Pasifika Discussion surrounding the concept of Hauora (Durie, 1994) in the document Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1999) has been controversial. Some writers have praised or justified its inclusion (Culpan, 1996/1997; Tasker, 1996/1997; Tinning, MacDonald, Wright & Hickey, 2001), while others accuse the writers of tokenism and misappropriation of indigenous knowledge (Hokowhitu, 2004; Salter, 2000). While existing at a political level, these debates have generally ignored student responses to and interactions with Hauora. Thus, this article intervenes in the existing debate and makes the case for the inclusion of student perspectives. My claims are made on the basis of a study into the perspectives of Māori and Pasifika students of physical education in New Zealand. The experiences of these students are related to the theory of hybridity (Besley, 2002; Bhabha, 1994), which suggests that young people actively negotiate and make critical decisions about what they think is relevant to them. I argue that the debate surrounding the concept of Hauora needs to include students' perspectives and consideration of the agency of young people in interactions with curriculum concepts.

year: 2005