The place for assessment in Citizenship Education
There are some who believe the current model of the English education system demands assessment because ?measurement produces focus and targets that can be met and monitored. Through these come improved performance and the raising of standards. So the theory holds .
Some debate occurs around the place of assessment in citizenship education, which became a statutory entitlement for Key Stage 3 and 4 students from August 2002. David Kerr, Professional Officer of the Advisory Group on Citizenship , observes that:
?Assessment in citizenship education can make a vital contribution to raising educational standards and improving pupil attainment and achievement.Assessment in citizenship education can contribute to raising standards in the context of the overall values, aims and purposes that underpin the school curriculum and the work of schools.
Others, however, have expressed the view that assessment would lead to ?an inevitable drive to focus on teaching for formal tests . Such a focus, it is said, would be inimical to the view of Citizenship education proposed by the Advisory Group on Citizenship because it would negate the importance given to the active, participatory component of ?effective education for citizenship :
?We stress, however, that citizenship education is education for citizenship, behaving and acting as a citizen, therefore it is not just knowledge of citizenship and civic society; it also implies developing values, skills and understanding. (my italics)
Whatever your position, it is clear that assessment in citizenship education is as much a requirement as the teaching of the subject. In what follows I will examine three aspects of assessment in citizenship education, arising from:
? the statutory entitlement to citizenship education at KS3 and KS4, which means that schools will have to assess their provision to ?ensure that all pupils at least get the opportunity to experience citizenship education.
? the statutory requirement for citizenship education to be included in annual written reports to parents of pupils in years 7 to 9, and for teachers to assess pupils? attainment in citizenship education at the end of KS3.
? citizenship becoming a more established part of the formal curriculum, so that assessment of teaching and learning will occur as a matter of good practice.
Assessment of provision
Since August 2002 schools have had to deliver a Citizenship curriculum that a) provides knowledge and understanding about becoming informed citizens, b) develops skills of enquiry and communication and c) develops skills of participation and responsible action. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) does not prescribe how schools should do this. Rather, the statutory entitlement is established by setting out specific learning outcomes for each key stage instead of the detailed programmes of study given to other subjects, to allow:
? the possibility of different approaches to citizenship education, involving different subject combinations and aspects of the curriculum based on existing good practice in each school?
Three main methods of delivery of citizenship education are available to schools:
- discrete curriculum time for Citizenship
- within existing subjects
- through events and activities within or outside the school environment.
Whichever combination of these contexts is used, appropriate opportunities and experiences need to be made available to all pupils if they are to get their entitlement to citizenship education.
Schools may feel that they already teach much, if not all, of the citizenship programme of study (the most common response I have heard in secondary schools to the introduction of Citizenship as a compulsory National Curriculum subject is we already do citizenship here and have done for years?). However, it behoves a school to assess its provision, particularly in light of comments from OFSTED concerning the inspection of citizenship:
?Where a school?s provision is patchy, owing to heavy reliance on such incidental contributions, it will not meet National Curriculum requirements and should be reported as such.
OFSTED advise, (that) in planning for citizenship, schools need to audit their curriculum carefully to identify existing work that can contribute to citizenship education.? Further, in inspecting citizenship, OFSTED inspectors are directed to find out pre-inspection how the school has organized citizenship. Thus a school needs to audit, review and assess its provision, not least to ensure that it can present OFSTED with this information. More importantly, perhaps, such assessment will allow a school to evaluate its provision in order to improve the planning, co-ordination and application of policy and practices for citizenship education (see Appendix A for a checklist that the school might use to focus its approach to assessing citizenship provision).
Assessment can assist the school in drawing up a statement of its commitment to citizenship, what is going on in respect of citizenship education at the present time and, where necessary, what needs to be done in order for the school to meet its statutory duties ? a framework for action, a citizenship policy statement (see Appendix B for an example of what a citizenship policy statement might look like). Such a statement is desirable, I think, as it:
-indicates what citizenship stands for in the school (in a document that is available to OFSTED, staff, students, governors, parents and the wider community)
- maintains the focus of the school on the aims of citizenship education as stated in government policy and within the local community.
Schools will need to ask how much of the programme of study is being or will be taught through the existing structures. What is suitable and what needs adapting within the curriculum? Which other subjects will have a responsibility for delivering citizenship? In trying to answer these questions the school can show a true commitment to the principles of citizenship education and involve a wide participation. Those responsible for delivering citizenship will obviously need to contribute, but other teaching staff, governors, parents and students should also be involved.
This desirable breadth of participation throws up some questions, of which I will mention but a few. Precisely how could such a wide involvement be fostered and coordinated? One may hope that enthusiasm for the ?new? subject would be high enough to encourage ?non-specialists to give time and energy for a great endeavour. Even were this to be the case, how much should ?non-specialists (young people and adults alike) be expected to assess the existing provision of Citizenship within the school and to suggest ways to improve it? Would young people necessarily have the vocabulary or experience to take part in assessment, evaluation and change in any significant way? Of course, the active element of the citizenship programmes of study demands just this kind of active participation from students learning by doing. The benefit of such participation in defining the school ethos would be, I think, immense (and one which Ofsted inspectors will want to see, that shows citizenship skills throughout the school?s organization):
The ethos of a school is therefore vital to the success or otherwise of citizenship: the ethos is the kind of atmosphere that can be felt as people walk around the school, the way we work with students and visitors and the way we interact with each other. It has been referred to as “the ghost in the machine” ? that untouchable, hidden, but all-so-apparent atmosphere that surrounds a school.
Assessment of learning outcomes
There is a strong emphasis on the summative assessment of pupil progress and achievement in citizenship education. There is a statutory requirement for teachers to assess pupils? attainment in citizenship education at the end of KS3 . This assessment should be made against the end-of-KS3 level description given by QCA:
?Pupils have a broad knowledge and understanding of the topical events they study; the rights, responsibilities and duties of citizens; the role of the voluntary sector; forms of government; provision of public services; and the criminal and legal systems. They show how the public gets information and how opinion is formed and expressed, including through the media. They show understanding of how and why changes take place in society. Pupils take part in school and community-based activities, demonstrating personal and group responsibility in their attitudes to themselves and others.
There is no eight-point scale for citizenship as there is for other National Curriculum subjects. Instead, QCA guidance suggests that teachers assess whether students are working towards, achieving, or exceeding the end of key stage description. Teachers should then report on pupils? progress to parents as they would for any other National Curriculum subject. The mention in QCA guidance of comparable levels of attainment would seem to suggest that reporting back by level is appropriate. Is this a correct assumption to make? If yes, could Citizenship teachers begin to create their own levels of attainment? The eight level descriptors that other National Curriculum subjects have available ?causes problems for teachers who are acutely aware of the problems in using just one level to describe a student?s attainment across a whole range of skills and concepts. Does reporting a student?s level of attainment as ?level 5? in Citizenship give a helpful statement to parents about their child?s development in Citizenship? There is currently little public understanding of what level 5 in Citizenship might signify, although it could be argued that this was also recently the case for English, Maths and Science. Parents have now begun to comprehend what this level means for these subjects and will do so for Citizenship in due time. Are there more useful methods of describing attainment for a subject that is very different from, say, English or Science? A more descriptive approach to a variety of competencies may be more useful.
No formal assessment requirements apply at KS4. However pupils? progress in citizenship education must be reported on at KS3 and KS4. Teachers are given some guidance from QCA about what such a report might include:
- brief comments on the pupil?s progress in citizenship, i.e. strengths and areas for development
- the pupils general progress in the subject
The guidelines are supplemented by sample reports (see Appendix C for an example) to assist teachers in meeting the reporting requirements.
