Cargando…

General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and the assessment of science practical work: an historical review of assessment policy

This article responds to two key concerns in science education: firstly, that policies designed to assess practical work have distorted its use as an effective pedagogical tool. Secondly, it addresses concerns about the lack of research on the assessment of practical work. The article analyses the p...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Childs, Ann, Baird, Jo‐Anne
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7566739/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33100601
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/curj.20
_version_ 1783596187763343360
author Childs, Ann
Baird, Jo‐Anne
author_facet Childs, Ann
Baird, Jo‐Anne
author_sort Childs, Ann
collection PubMed
description This article responds to two key concerns in science education: firstly, that policies designed to assess practical work have distorted its use as an effective pedagogical tool. Secondly, it addresses concerns about the lack of research on the assessment of practical work. The article analyses the policy trajectory for the assessment of science practical work, through the GCSE, in the English National Curriculum from 1988 to the present day. Drawing on published research and policy documents, using Bowe, Ball and Gould's policy cycle approach to policy analysis, we first identify three distinct eras which represent different ways of assessing practical work from 1988 to the present day. Second, we demonstrate that the interaction between high‐stakes assessment narrows the ways practical work is conducted in schools. The interaction between curriculum policy and assessment policy and its influences on pedagogy for practical work has been influenced by the high‐stakes nature of the tests. This is not a unique case to England nor to science education. Finally, we question whether we can design assessments, ‘tests worth teaching to’, that can withstand the implications of high‐stakes testing.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7566739
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher John Wiley and Sons Inc.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-75667392020-10-21 General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and the assessment of science practical work: an historical review of assessment policy Childs, Ann Baird, Jo‐Anne Curric J Original Articles This article responds to two key concerns in science education: firstly, that policies designed to assess practical work have distorted its use as an effective pedagogical tool. Secondly, it addresses concerns about the lack of research on the assessment of practical work. The article analyses the policy trajectory for the assessment of science practical work, through the GCSE, in the English National Curriculum from 1988 to the present day. Drawing on published research and policy documents, using Bowe, Ball and Gould's policy cycle approach to policy analysis, we first identify three distinct eras which represent different ways of assessing practical work from 1988 to the present day. Second, we demonstrate that the interaction between high‐stakes assessment narrows the ways practical work is conducted in schools. The interaction between curriculum policy and assessment policy and its influences on pedagogy for practical work has been influenced by the high‐stakes nature of the tests. This is not a unique case to England nor to science education. Finally, we question whether we can design assessments, ‘tests worth teaching to’, that can withstand the implications of high‐stakes testing. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2020-01-10 2020-09 /pmc/articles/PMC7566739/ /pubmed/33100601 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/curj.20 Text en © 2020 The Authors. The Curriculum Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Educational Research Association This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Articles
Childs, Ann
Baird, Jo‐Anne
General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and the assessment of science practical work: an historical review of assessment policy
title General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and the assessment of science practical work: an historical review of assessment policy
title_full General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and the assessment of science practical work: an historical review of assessment policy
title_fullStr General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and the assessment of science practical work: an historical review of assessment policy
title_full_unstemmed General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and the assessment of science practical work: an historical review of assessment policy
title_short General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and the assessment of science practical work: an historical review of assessment policy
title_sort general certificate of secondary education (gcse) and the assessment of science practical work: an historical review of assessment policy
topic Original Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7566739/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33100601
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/curj.20
work_keys_str_mv AT childsann generalcertificateofsecondaryeducationgcseandtheassessmentofsciencepracticalworkanhistoricalreviewofassessmentpolicy
AT bairdjoanne generalcertificateofsecondaryeducationgcseandtheassessmentofsciencepracticalworkanhistoricalreviewofassessmentpolicy