The internal assessment of practical skills in science in England and Wales, 1960‐1991: some issues in historical perspective

Buchan, A. S.; Jenkins, Edgar W.

doi:10.1080/0950069920140401

Cited by 12 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In science, this involved teacher assessments of practical work carried out in the normal classroom. The examining authorities specified guidelines for the conduct and marking of the work and the results contributed about 20% of the terminal examination mark (Buchan 1992, Buchan andJenkins 1992). To achieve comparability between schools, several 'moderation' procedures were used.…”

Section: A Framework Of Testing and Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Curriculum and assessment in science education: the policy interface

Black

1995

International Journal of Science Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The paper describes how a new national curriculum and assessment system for England and Wales was set up in 1988 and the frequent changes which it has endured since then. Curriculum specification attempted to broaden the aims of science teaching and to specify sequences for learning. Assessment policy struggled with attempts to enhance formative assessment and with tensions between external tests and teachers' internal assessments. The story illustrates problems about progression in learning, about criterion referencing, about the weak state of formative assessment and about the optimum relationship between external testing and the formative and summative assessment roles of teachers. More fundamentally, it is suggested that, when asked to advise in a political process, professional educators may be tempted to propose innovations which are too radical to succeed within its imperatives of rapid and inexpensive change.

show abstract

Section: A Framework Of Testing and Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Curriculum and assessment in science education: the policy interface

Black

1995

International Journal of Science Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In science, this involved teacher assessments of practical work carried out in the normal classroom. The examining authorities specified guide-lines for the conduct and marking of the work and the results contributed about 20% of the terminal examination mark (Buchan 1992, Buchan andJenkins 1992). To achieve comparability between schools, several 'moderation' procedures were used.…”

Section: The Framework For Testing and Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

1987 to 1995 — The Struggle to Formulate a National Curriculum for Science in England and Wales

Black

1995

Studies in Science Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The 1988 Education Reform Act ushered in a new era in education within Britain. Before this Act, the government had had no recent and direct control over the school curriculum. Now there is a prescribed curriculum in all main subjects, with associated national testing at four stages within the years of compulsory schooling. This article describes the evolution of this policy. The story starts with a sketch of the background to the 1988 legislation. There is then a first account of the formulation of assessment policy, given here because the formulation of the science standards can only be understood in the context of this policy. There then follows an account, with examples, of the three versions of the national curriculum for science which have appeared over the past seven years. In order to understand these more fully, the article then returns to assessment in order to trace the evolution of the policy and practice in this area over the same period of time. The closing section presents some reflections on the issues illustrated by this strange story.The account applies only to England and Wales. Although the word 'national' is used throughout, the legislative arrangements for Scotland and for Northern Ireland are different and are not discussed here.

show abstract

“…Incluso se ha constatado en alguna ocasión que puede llegar a ser menos útil en lo que concierne al aprendizaje de conceptos que otras estrategias como, por ejemplo, las denostadas demostraciones llevadas a cabo por los profesores (Thijs y Bosch, 1995). También es cierto que los resultados de esta clase de trabajos, que se basan en una metodología de investigación que intenta contrastar la eficiencia de un método de enseñanza x con la de otro y, han sido puestos en duda, ya que se parte de la presunción de que existe un método único para el trabajo de laboratorio planteado a los estudiantes y otro para las demostraciones de los profesores, olvidando la enorme diversidad de enfoques que ambos pueden adoptar, y dejando de lado una gran cantidad de variables que sin duda afectan fuertemente a los resultados obtenidos (Atkinson, 1990;Garret y Roberts, 1982;Shulman y Tamir, 1973).…”

Section: Practico?unclassified

El trabajo práctico en la enseñanza de las ciencias: una revisión

Barberá

Valdés²

1996

ensciencias

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article is a review about the effectiveness of practicals in science education at the secondary and tertiary levels. Through more than one hundred references, the authors conclude solid arguments have not been provided to justify the great deal of material and human resources needed for the implementation of this educational tool. In spite of these disappointing findings, the authors do not deny the central role of practicals in science education, and they justify these negative results by invoking the great complexity of the subject, the ambiguity that surrounds the term «practicals», and an unsuitable methodology that researchers use to measure their effectiveness. Finally, some plausible solutions to the problem are suggested, such as the characterisation of the educational objectives of practicals, or the use of a qualitative evaluation methodology.

show abstract

The internal assessment of practical skills in science in England and Wales, 1960‐1991: some issues in historical perspective

Cited by 12 publications

References 9 publications

Curriculum and assessment in science education: the policy interface

Curriculum and assessment in science education: the policy interface

1987 to 1995 — The Struggle to Formulate a National Curriculum for Science in England and Wales

El trabajo práctico en la enseñanza de las ciencias: una revisión

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About