Education Assessment in a High School in North Wales

Answer

Education Assessment in a High School in North Wales                                           

                                            Jiaxing Yao

Introduction:

  There are several different types of assessment in modern society. Notably, education assessment is used to evaluate learners’ progress both for individuals and groups. It can also be used to assess teachers’ and leaders’ progress and achievement (Egan & Marshall, 2007: 288). According to Reynolds (2008: 756), the purpose of assessment in Education is to provide a theoretical framework for learners and researchers to trace the learning process. Assessment also can be used to determine the importance of education and meanwhile provide scale and value (Educational Assessment, 2009: 2)

GCSE assessment in high school:

   GCSE, which is short of General Certificate of Secondary Education, usually taken by students in year 10 and 11 (students in year 9 also have chance to attend the examination, depends different school rules). It is an academically rigorous, internationally recognized qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In secondary schools, GCSE courses are taken in a variety of subjects with chosen subjects starting at year 10 while other subjects such as maths, science, and English can start earlier. Welsh as a first or second language must be studied in Wales.

  In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, GSE serves two basic purposes. They are given at the end of the secondary school studies in order to certify the completion of the secondary level and at a satisfactory level of achievement. The other purpose concerns its function in the selection for higher education and professional training.  In the history of education, there are two kinds of General Certificate in UK. One is GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) and the other is A-level (General Certificate of Education). Both of them started in 1951 but GCSE used to be known as 0-level till 1988 Education Reform Act it changed the name (Egan & Marshall, 2007: 288).

  A - Level examination is usually used for students aged 18 and follows the 2 years of sixth form study (Reynolds, 2008: 757). From the beginning in 1951, A-Level has had a history of more than 60years till today. During these 60 years, due to the changes of British society and the education system, A-level and curriculum system also has experienced several big changes.

  In the contemporary society, several different educational reforms have happened in UK and a lot of decisions have consequently been made. However, English has always remained as one of the core subjects among the others. From 1944, the ‘Bulter Act’ firstly changed the education system for secondary schools in England and Wales. In 1988, came out first National Curriculum which confirmed English as one of the core subjects (Woods, 2007: 91). Despite the many changes that have occurred in the curriculum since the devolvement of education into Wales’s government, the importance of English teaching has not changed. The year 2011 was another important turning point marking the start of LNF (Literacy and Numeracy Framework) implementation. The LNF required that teachers should embed English and numeracy into all subjects for learners (Numeracy Studies Journal, 2011). Even though a lot of progress has been made, the GCSE examinations result for Wales’ schools are still not satisfying. In the following essay, I will list the main reasons from different aspects. I will use a case High School where I am undertaking my placement as an example to illustrate relevant solutions. In addition, I will summarize the importance of popularizing English and making language functional. Finally, I will highlight the educational assessment comparison between Wales and China and give out some suggestions.

Multi reasons which lead to unsatisfied result of GCSE

1. Policy and political reasons

• The Foundation: Pass* and Pass;
• The National: A*, A, B and C;
• The Advanced: A*, A, B, C, D and E

According to a report by Institute of Social Economic Research Data Methods, WBQ is enormously valuable when it comes to preparing young people for higher education owing to the weighting accorded to it by UCAS tariff.

In 2006, the government established the RAISE (Raising Attainment, and Individual Standards of Education) program. The main aim of the program was to improve the educational outcome which was deteriorating especially in most disadvantaged schools in Wales (Isaacs, 2014: 62). The program offers significant additional funding for such schools enabling them to provide a wide range of initiatives to increase the involvement and achievement of students. More recently, the establishment and adoption of a School Effectiveness Framework for Wales occurred as part of the wider reform program for education system ((Reynolds, 2008: 758). The program that promotes capacity building in schools aimed to introduce Wales to the experience of a tri-level systematic reform. It also enhances lateral networking between schools through sharing of good practice in teaching and learning (Woods, 2007: 91).

By and large, the education system in Wales is going through numerous changes. In 2013, the introduction of the statutory National Literacy and Numeracy Framework (LNF) initiated changes in literacy and numeracy. Other changes focused on learning for language, mathematical development and programs of study, and literacy and communication skills. The GCSE and the Bac teaches and tests the skills recognized globally as fundamental to success in employment and further study.

1. Teaching approaches and Teaching targets

Before the Education Reform Act 1988, there was no definition of unified national curriculum. Each school utilized their own teaching material and set their own target for teaching. Teachers could choose what to teach and what to test (Reid, 2013: 12). According to a study by Millennium Cohort Study done between 2000 and 2001, students in Wales compared with those from elsewhere in UK and from similar backgrounds and similar circumstances, were found to perform slightly less well (Woods, 2007: 91). This study reveals a drop in the levels of performance compared with similar studies done in 1999 just before the devolution (Reid, 2013: 12). This drop in the standards of education in Wales is associated in lack of vertical and horizontal comparison between schools and its role in decreasing competitiveness (Daugherty, 2009: 62).

Some education experts argue that government’s too much stress on the examination results resulted in many schools focusing on classroom teaching directly to exam-oriented training; an approach that has weakened students' understanding of subject knowledge (Reid, 2013: 12). In addition, the high cost needed for changing the exam essentials made examination institutions reluctant to make more changes in terms of assigning new topics (Egan & Marshall, 2007: 288). Consequently, for a long period of time, the test papers remained roughly the same (Daugherty, 2009: 62). The system is also faulted for making the classroom teaching highly utilitarian as "guess the possible testing content" phenomenon intensified. For example, originally, the examination of C-level meant that about 60% of the average level in the group and, now, this level is roughly at the end of level B (Isaacs, 2014: 62).

1. Issues for students themselves (Reid, 2013: 14):
2. Students’ time distribution imbalance whereby students have a tendency to some certain subjects. This has led to the review’s inability to cover all the aspects. As a result, the outcome of several subject is not satisfactory.
3. Low study ability and lack of concentration. For a student, if the learning efficiency is quite low then within the same time he/she will not be able to complete the study task.
4. In choosing a subject there are also some external factors, such as: the problem of employment and the issue of students not really interested in what they have chosen but have to do that in order to find a good job.
5. A poor learning attitude: Some of the students do not care much about their study. Students are not serious and take studies as a game. They cannot understand the importance of background study (personal comments, unpublished materials). However, another perspective is presented by policy makers supporting this system who hold that the system instills a sense of identity with the education as students enjoy learning and have higher interest in learning (Reid, Smith, Powell, Reakes, & Jones, 2007: 111).

Taken English teaching as an example to corresponding measures in order to solve issues above

In the High School where I had my three weeks’ placement, for both GCSE and the A-Level examination, all the English departments have made a lot of changes. Previously, teachers here used a different teaching approach (teaching without unified materials, teaching outlines and teaching plans). The nature of this approach required that they could not have unified examinations because of their different teaching schedules (Black, Paul, & William, Dylan, 1998: 5). The teachers could only use their own way to give tests to students to check if they acquired the knowledge. As a result of the use of different student exhibit different abilities and different levels of knowledge acquisition and lower levels of performance if administered a standard exam given to other schools where they have standardized teaching methods (Personal Comments, Unpublished Materials).

But now big changes happened here. The school has adopted a standardized teaching model, evaluation model, and student’s autonomous learning mode. These changes have contributed to a lot of changes in terms of the GCSE performance in literacy and numeracy. Students in the new system exhibit higher levels of literacy, numeracy, and knowledge acquisition compared with the previous setting (Isaacs, 2014: 62).

Although with some countries (for example: Finland, Singapore, etc.) who have taken education as the core aspect to development they still show a big gap in their education system, but obvious progress is has also been achieved (Black, Paul, & William, Dylan, 1998: 3).

For example, in Year 11 in this school: