Curriculum and assessment

The changing nature of literacy in the senior secondary school means that many common tools do not give subject teachers the detailed information they need to identify and address strengths and gaps in their students’ reading and writing. We illustrate some of the complexities of reading and writing in the senior secondary school and describe one way that teachers and leaders can use NCEA data to find out more about their students’ subject literacy.

The main purpose for assessment should always be to improve learning (Ministry of Education, 2007). The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) acknowledges that evidence for assessment for learning is often gathered informally, and “analysis and interpretation, and use of information often take place in the mind of the teacher” (p. 39). At the same time an increasing body of research suggests that assessment for learning isn’t easy for teachers (see, for example, Mansell, James, and the Assessment Reform Group (2009)).

What value do we ascribe to assessment in a climate that seems to be driven by National Standards? How do we account for individual differences in students?

NCEA has potential for the development of assessment frameworks that enable all students to demonstrate success in learning. However, research shows that this potential is not being realised. This article illustrates the way that two teachers developed a course in education for sustainability designed for those students who were not succeeding in more traditional subjects. The course opened a new pathway for learning and involved studying relevant issues using different learning areas.

This article draws on a recent New Zealand study of how young people learn to think critically about the past when they conduct internally assessed course work. The research demonstrated that, although students can develop advanced understandings of historical thinking when they conduct research projects, this development is largely dependent on how well teachers understand the conceptual nature of historical thinking.