Assessment: Historical Patterns, Ideologies & Practical Reflections

Recording the Seminar: Rationale and Logistics

• Lecturer is now recording seminars to accommodate online students who cannot attend live sessions.
• Goal: Provide an on-demand walkthrough of weekly activities and readings.
• Pedagogical decision framed as the “best approach” for this semester’s cohort.

Four Foundational Historical Concepts in Education

• Current week completes the introductory quartet:
  1. Curriculum (what we teach)
  2. Pedagogy (how we teach)
  3. History/Context (why it changes)
  4. Assessment (how learning is judged)
• Assessment intimately connected to both curriculum and pedagogy; changes (or lack thereof) over time reveal ideological forces.

What Is Assessment?

• Lecturer invites personal reflection:
  • List every assessment you have experienced (school, university, sport, workplace).
  • Note what you enjoyed/disliked and why.
  • Ask: “What values drove those choices?”
• Prompts:
  • “Was a task useful or just busy-work?”
  • “Did standardized tests feel meaningful or oppressive?”

Standardized Testing: National & Global Frames

• Australia’s NAPLAN (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy):
  • Administered every two years from Year 3.
  • Introduced ≈ $20$ years ago; part of a global trend of standard metrics.
  • Data published publicly to allow “informed” school choice.
• International parallels: UN data frameworks, colonial legacies.
• Key critique: Standardized tests often reinforce racist/colonial hierarchies (see linked U.S. interview).

Historical Factory Model of Exams

• Slide shown: 100-year-old hall with desks in rows → mirrors modern exam setups.
• Question posed: “Why has this configuration persisted?”
• School of Education at lecturer’s university has abolished exams based on pedagogical philosophy.

Emerging Disruptor: Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Meme of AI as the new untouchable “god.”
• Dual impact:
  • Students use AI for assignments.
  • Teachers use AI for marking to reduce workload.
• Raises historical questions about future values in education.

Blog Assignment Guidance

• Produce a graphic element (meme, image, short video) capturing your assessment experience.
• Reflect on two provided contrasting images (exam hall vs. AI icon).
• Blog should link personal narrative to theory & readings; avoid purely formulaic box-ticking.

Ideological Purposes of Assessment

• Two broad theoretical lines:
  • Creating hierarchies & ranking learners to fit capitalist social structures.
  • Valuing outcome over process; metrics trump experiential learning.
• Cat meme: “Learning is about the journey, not the destination,” contrasted with institutional obsession with metrics (employability scores, teaching satisfaction, etc.).

Formative vs. Summative Assessment

• Formative: Ongoing, constructive feedback; guides next steps in learning.
• Summative: Conclusive judgment; often high-stakes (e.g., a single $100\%$ final exam).
• Trend: Formative gaining traction over last $50$ years but still secondary in many systems.

Case Study 1: NAPLAN Details & Consequences

• Publishes league tables; aimed to empower parental choice.
• Unintended outcomes:
  • Affluent families move children to high-performing (often private) schools.
  • Intensifies inequity; Australia now has one of the least equitable school systems.
  • Advantages: rich, white, English-first-language students in wealthy suburbs.
• Parliamentary speech video provided for critique.

Case Study 2: ATAR / VCE High-Stakes Exams

• ATAR culmination: single exam determines tertiary options.
• Suggested blog angle: How did $2$ years of focus on one score shape your learning/mental health?
• Linked articles analyse pedagogical and social implications.

Global Comparison: Chinese High-Stakes Examination Culture

• Linked e-book chapter “The Myth of Meritocracy.”
• Examines cultural, social, historical pressures around China’s Gaokao-style system.
• Encourages cross-cultural reflection on merit, stress, and opportunity.

Post-Pandemic Higher-Ed Assessment (North America)

• Second reading explores radical shifts in university teaching/assessment after COVID-19.
• Questions tackled:
  • What must change permanently?
  • How have student expectations and institutional capacities evolved?

Continual Public Debate & Research

• Frequent media pieces lament slow progress in reforming assessment.
• Scholars argue for purpose beyond standardized scores—e.g., deeper learning, equity, student wellbeing.

Week 5 Blogging Focus & Resources

• No classes next week; entire week allocated for blog drafting.
• Inspiration materials include:
  • Example education blogs.
  • Substack as modern blogging platform.
  • Tim Minchin’s UWA graduation speech: humorous, reflective philosophy of education.
• Historical note: Blogs shifted from static text to dynamic multimedia; mirrors evolution of educational media.

Practical Tips for Your Blog

• Combine personal anecdotes with scholarly sources (curriculum, pedagogy, assessment literature).
• Use memes, images, or short videos to enhance engagement.
• Possible themes:
  • Teacher practices you loved (pedagogy) vs. those driven by testing.
  • Days you dreaded assessments → link to summative culture.
  • Experiences where formative feedback improved learning.
• Maintain authenticity; don’t just cite to impress lecturers.

Support & Administration

• Contact lecturer/Tom for consultations, draft feedback, or questions.
• Extension requests via the assessment tab.
• Reminder: Week 5 free from classes → dedicated to blog completion.

Key Numerical & Symbolic References

• $40\%$ vs. $80\%$ scores as social ranking symbols.
• $100\%$ exam = extreme summative model.
• $50$ years: broad rise of formative assessment.
• $20$ years: lifespan of NAPLAN.

Ethical, Philosophical, and Practical Implications

• Ethical: Standardized testing’s racist, colonial, and classist effects.
• Philosophical: Process-oriented vs. product-oriented epistemologies.
• Practical: AI’s role in marking, blog format revival, student workload, teacher workload.