GMIT TUTORIAL Paper Two

Name of Student: David Broderick

Article/Reading: Junior Cycle Assessment information updates

1. CONCISE SUMMARY OF READING

The reading that is being summarized is from NCCA website and is about Assessment
information updates.

The first section of this article looks at assessment in the Junior Certificate Cycle. It mentions
how important assessment is to find out stage the student is at which their learning, where
they are going and what can be done to help them get there. Here the author speaks about
how the emphasis is being put on the final exam (by teacher & pupil) and how the students
learning experience can be affected by this approach. This has been backed up by research
done internationally and also by Black and William. This is why the Junior Cycle assessment
is changing, and it is vital that teachers improve the learning experience of students by
putting the responsibility of the learning process back to the students.

In the second and third section it talks about ongoing classroom assessment through
formative and summative approaches. As teachers we are always using formative
assessment during class time, asking questions and so forth, and using this information to
plan for future lessons. With summative assessment teachers will get a snapshot of
students progress, students projects, and end of term exams and so on. This will tell the
teacher if the learning experience has been grasped or would have to be revised.

In the fourth section it goes on to look at assessment for certification. In the Junior Cycle the
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NCCA, through subjects and short course want to reduce the final exam and put more
emphasis on ongoing assessment in the classroom. The NCCA will provide assessment
guideline for each subject/short course that teachers can use to assess their students
progress. With learning intentions and criteria teachers will be able to use these
specifications in helping them to make a judgement on students work when awarding
grades for certification.

In the fifth section it goes on to talk about the benefits that formative assessment can have
in the classroom, and how it mostly benefits the lowering 20 percent of students
according to Black & William (NCCA, N/D). This is also brought to the four in the OECD
publication Formative Assessment: Improving learning in secondary classrooms (OECD
2005). It mentions that formative is more inclusive and helps students with learning
difficulties to focus and improves motivation compared to students learning for the final
exam. The process of small steps and feedback help the students. Outlines the use of well
thought out questioning from the teacher to special needs students and how this is can
make the students self-reflect on the knowledge they have obtained, which is a skill that
should be encouraged and developed in the Junior Cycle.

In the sixth section it looks at what happens in other countries when it comes to
assessment. The publication Synergies for Better Learning by the OECD looks at the practices
of 28 countries and how they go about their curricula reforms. The Junior Certificate
framework is based on this OECD publication and how teacher led assessment can improve
students learning standards as has happened in Finland, Scotland and New Zealand.

Finally it looks at managing the assessment load for students and teachers. It outlines that in
the Junior Cert the learning experience is to the four and that paper work should not hinder
this experience. It also mentions that not all assessment needs to be recorded necessarily
(e.g. Observation)

In conclusion this article on the NCCA website goes through a number of assessment
information updates under a number of headings as mentioned above.
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2. CRITICAL REFLECTION

From my reading of the article Assessment information updates on the NCCA website I
found it to be a useful read. The article goes through a number of different areas of
assessment in a brief manner but gives enough of an overview to give the reader a starting
base for that area. I think that this is very useful for teachers who are very busy to keep in
touch with new developments in education and this will help them to be continually
developing as a professional and an educator (Teaching Council of Ireland, 2012, p. 8). I
believe this is the case as it is a relatively quick read compared to other reports and
documents. Also throughout the reading it makes references to other material which can be
very useful if the reader wants to deepen their knowledge further, in that topic matter.

The first section that is discussed is the assessment in the Junior Cycle. This is a hot topic in
education that had great momentum at the start of this year, but has seemed to be gone off
the radar. In January, while out on teaching practice there was a one day strike action by the
teachers on the new Junior Cert reform. From the media information published on the topic
and talking to the teachers, one of their main concerns was in the area of how work was
going to be assessed. As this article being discussed it mentions the key idea of the focus
being shifted from the final exam to a focus on learning process in the area of assessment.
In Irish Times, on the 15th of November 2014 reported a quote from the ASTI president
Philip Irwin from an interview he had given on RTE, that teachers were open to project and
portfolio work going towards certificate marks but they wanted these externally assessed
by the State Examinations Commission rather than by teachers (Humphreys, 2014). The
NCCA article outlines how there is going to be a move away from the current assesment
approach of final exam but doesnt mention anything about project or portfolio work as Mr.
Irwin speaks about. It gives an overview but could have gave it a bit more relevents for the
reader which I found was a bit of a let down. The teachers would agree with this article, to
move away from the final exam and move to ongoing classroom assessment like Black and
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William who are mention in this article, once it is structured correctly. From Black and
Williams research it shows that there is a benefit to using this approach to assess the lower
achieving pupils (Black & Wiliam, 2001, p.3). Minister Jan O Sullivan is determined to
implement the Junior Cert but was quoted as being very dissappointed at the latested
unions vote on the matter (Brophy, 2015). As report by The Journal.ie, the 18,000 ASTI
members rejected the reform by 55% to 45% where as the TUI and its 15,000 members,
accepted the proposals. The teachers that have rejected these proposals still feel that there
is a need for far more clarity and detail about how the process will operate in reality
according to ASTI union president Maire Ni Chiarba (Brophy, 2015). As the row continues
over this issue one wonders how the governmenrt will aprroach this especially with talks of
a general election coming, they wont want any tension with any groups so this could have
an effect on the Junior Cert actually being implement. I believe that this could hurt the
development of the education system as I believe once all the teachers concerns are met
this could revolutionise the education system from the information that I have gathered
from this article and further research.

During the article also it looks at formative and summative assessment in the classroom. I
found this parragraph useful as it summed up both quite well while also giving examples. I
believe it is key that teachers are using the assessment information in the correct way and
that they have a clear knowledge of how to extract the knowledge, and then how to use it.
Another site that I felt agreed and co-aligned in explainations was Battelle for Kids, as it look
at both of these assessment methods mentioned and looked at them more in depth. From
reading the article on the NCCA web page, a teacher could develop their knowledge and skill
futher by using this site. As a reader I found I could relate my own expierences to this article
like when it mentions gathering information from the learner and using this information to
revise where the students were at with there learning. I got students to rate out of five on
their expierence of; 1. Using equipment, 2. The pace of the class, 3. How well did they felt
they knew the material that was covered. I explained what each rating ment, five- (1.
Perfect using the equipment, 2. The pace is fine keep going, 3. They knew the material that
was covered) and it was also annomonaus so each student could be honest. From the
information gathered I knew if students were comfortable using the equipment, if I had to
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speed up or down my delivery of the lesson and whether I had to revise the material
covered from previous classes.

During this article it makes reference to the report Synergies for Better Learning from the
OECD. The article mentions how the above mentioned report is based on assessment
pratices over twenty-eight countries. I agree that the expectations of what students are
expected to know are changing. It is up to us as the teaching profession to taylor some of
that learning expierence towards some new skills like using technology more in the
classroom for example. Like the OECD report mentions we have to be diverse and
innovative with our assessment approaches. It is important that we are keeping with the
times so that our education is up to its highest standard, whether that means new reforms
to catch up to the likes of Finland or using different simple new everyday techniques to
assess our students work.

In conclusion to this article I found it to be a good read to keep up to date with assessment
updates. By no means is it the most factual or information giving article but with the
references that are throughout and if the reader has time to dig deeper it can be the source
of a lot of information. I personally found it good as I had time to browse and link to other
current updates like the ASTI rejecting the proposals.

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3. LIST OF REFERENCES

Bibliography
Batelle for Kids. (2015, October 9). Learning Hub. Retrieved from Battelle for Kids:
http://www.battelleforkids.org/
Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (2001). Inside the Black Box Raising Standards through Classroom
Assessment. London: King's College London School of Education .
Brophy, D. (2015). Jan OSullivan is absolutely determined to continue Junior Cert reform
despite union opposition. Dublin: thejournal.ie.
Humphreys, J. (2014). Teachers to strike for two days in Junior Cert row. Dublin:
IrishTimes.com.
NCCA. (N/D, N/D). Junior Cycle Assessment information updates . Retrieved from NCCA:
http://www.juniorcycle.ie/Assessment/Assessment-information-updates#A_one
OECD. (2013). Synergies for Better Learning. Paris: OECD Publishing.
Teaching Council of Ireland. (2012). Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers 2nd Edition.
Teaching Council.
There are no sources in the current document.

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