Assessment and learning: Fields Apart?

Podcast Description

Educational assessments define what it means to have learned and therefore have a huge impact upon teaching and learning. However, there is remarkably little connection between research and theory on learning and on educational assessment. Given the voluminous assessment that takes place annually in systematic ways in most nations it is surprising that more has not been gained from assessments in the development of theories of learning and vice versa. In this presentation, we look at the relationship between learning and assessment, consider theories of learning and theories of assessment and draw the conclusion that they should be developing more closely if assessment is in service of the goals of education. We consider fundamental aspects of assessment theory, such as constructs (what is being assessed), unidimensionality, invariance and quantifiability. We distinguish educational assessment from psychological assessment. The impact of high-stakes tests for teaching and learning is normally considered in the literature. We show how less traditional cases of international tests affect student learning. The main message is that assessment’s effects upon teaching and learning need to be at the forefront to a larger extent in assessment research and practice to ensure systemic validity.

More from this series

    Podcast
    Government statistics indicate that children and young people with special educational needs are five times more likely to be excluded from secondary schools, and account for just under half of excluded pupils.
    25 February 2020
    Discover More
    Podcast
    The House of Commons’ Education Committee (2019) criticised the education system’s treatment of children with disabilities on the following terms: “[C]hildren and parents are not ‘in the know’ and for some the law may not even appear to exist.
    13 February 2020
    Discover More
    Podcast
    This talk will discuss the latest understanding of mental health needs in adolescent populations in the UK and the potential role that mental health services in schools can play.
    13 February 2020
    Discover More
    Podcast
    This seminar is part of our public seminar series on ‘Exclusion from School and its Consequences’, led by the Department of Education and convened by Harry Daniels (Professor of Education) and Ian Thompson (Associate Professor of English Education & Director of PGCE).
    4 February 2020
    Discover More
    Podcast
    There are great differences in the rates of permanent school exclusion in different parts of the UK with numbers rising rapidly in England but remaining relatively low or falling in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
    20 January 2020
    Discover More
    Podcast
    The use of expert panels to advise governments is a favoured form of policy inquiry process.
    19 November 2019
    Discover More