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WHY DO WE NEED TO RETHINK ASSESSMENT?
WHY DO WE NEED TO RETHINK ASSESSMENT?
Exams have a stranglehold on our entire education system. They dominate what is taught, how it is taught, and lived experience of every child, parent and teacher in the country.
We believe that an education system that relies solely on cliff edge exams to measure a young person’s success is unsustainable and unfair.
Across the globe there are well-established school systems which provide working examples of meaningful, balanced and rigorous alternatives to exam-only assessment.
At Rethinking Assessment, we have made a strong case for the need to broaden and modernise assessment, and to move towards a system which recognises the full breadth of a young person’s strengths and achievements at different points in their learning.
We think that digital learner profiles are a promising step towards this goal, and we’re working with schools, colleges, education professionals, employers and Universities to pioneer their development and adoption in the UK and beyond.
"We believe that our vision for a digital learner profile provides a workable alternative to the current inequitable situation. A profile has the power to recognise the full range of strengths of every young person. It needs to be at the heart of the conversation about how we do things differently.’"
VOICES FOR CHANGE
VOICES FOR CHANGE
EQUITY, ACCESS & INCLUSION AS KEY DRIVERS TOWARDS LEARNER PROFILES
"The effectiveness of the system is uneven and it is less effective for young people from rural, remote and low socio-economic communities, those from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, those with specialised needs and those who are refugees or immigrants. The core problem is the misalignment between what we measure as educational success and the learning goals we aspire to. " Learning Creates Australia
"(We have ).. a very hierarchical system that rather doesn’t fully measure success but perhaps measures privilege." (Youth voice, Learning Creates Australia)
"(We have ).. a very hierarchical system that rather doesn’t fully measure success but perhaps measures privilege." (Youth voice, Learning Creates Australia)
"The current recognition system defines success in narrow, shallow terms that do not reflect the breadth and depth of learning now required. Scoring is (usually) competitive and not standards based. It tends to privilege examinable academic knowledge, rather than knowhow, the capacity to learn or the exercise of learner agency. It has the effect of marginalising vocational and community-based learning and learners often have to put aside their own interests, passions, cultural contexts and motivations and the cultural, economic and educational needs of their communities." Learning Creates Australia
Photo by Tamarcus Brown on Unsplash
“Being able to recognise what matters in their learning journeys and having opportunities to exemplify what’s important to their own progression contributes to developing independent and lifelong learners. Ownership of their own learning allows learners to value what’s important to them both within and outside the classroom. An e-Portfolio is a digital record, the content of which reflects the experiences, achievements and learning journey of an individual learner. It supports learners to gather and capture examples of their progression and notable achievements, both within and beyond the classroom, reflecting on what matters to them within the context of the four purposes of the curriculum. The Welsh Government is establishing an e-Portfolio system which will be available for use by all schools in Wales. All learners from Reception year onwards should have access to a suitable e-Portfolio system.” (Welsh Government, Assessment proposals to inform the development of statutory guidance)
The necessity to broaden assessment and how we can do it.pdfThe Necessity to Broaden Assessment, Conrad Hughes
EDUCATION ON THE MOVE
EDUCATION ON THE MOVE
In March 2022 The King Alfred School Society and Rethinking Assessment were proud to host the Education On The Move Conference. The aim of the conference was to bring together voices from across the UK to share ideas on how our education system needs to change. Here, Peter Hyman speaks about how Rethinking Assessment are developing holistic Learner Profiles and how we need to think beyond the current paradigm of educational experiences and assessment.
Watch Rachel Macfarlane here at Education On The Move where she speaks about how the current system is inadequate and inequitable in assessing the true achievements of children and young people across our communities, and she challenges that we need to think beyond the current paradigm of educational experiences and assessment. And read her thoughts on Why the Learner Profile is central to the Levelling Up agenda (rethinkingassessment.com).
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