Time Spent On Assessment "Ineffective"
Nine out of ten teachers say they are spending a lot of time on assessment procedures that most claim are ineffective. The results of a survey1 carried out by MORI on behalf of Goal plc, the online assessment provider, show that the average teacher works 56 hours a week, three and a half hours of which are spent on formal assessment - writing and preparing, marking, analysing and reporting.
However 7 out of 10 say assessment in schools could be more effective, and almost 8 out of 10 say technology could be used to relieve assessment pressures. GOAL - Global Online Assessment of Learning offers a series of assessments that are designed to make assessment easier, quicker and more useful - saving teachers' time.
"Teachers are very negative about assessment," says Gareth Newman, Goal's Chief Executive and former principal of Brooke Weston City Technology College in Corby, "and that is largely because the majority of formal assessment processes don't help the teacher improve the quality of learning for individual pupils. By the time they get the data from the National Tests, for instance, the pupils taking the tests have invariably moved on, and the teacher is dealing with a new class with a new set of learning challenges. Teachers don't just want to measure the milestones. They want signposts that show where each pupil is, and they want a clear way forward along the learning road. They want formative assessment, not just summative tests."
The results of the MORI survey echo research carried out by the QCA2 last year, showing that pressure on teachers to improve pupils' performance means formative assessment is not valued.
Professor David Reynolds of Exeter University believes the emphasis on performance outcomes can only drive up standards so far. "The challenge is to become cleverer as an educational profession through using data. The challenge is to have more information about your pupils more quickly. Goal is absolutely there in terms of being what schools need. The purpose of assessment is to inform the curriculum. If you know where children are in terms of assessment you know where your curriculum should be in terms of teaching objectives. Goal shows which of your children are not progressing as well as they should be, and which of your children have potential that is not being used."
Goal's Gareth Newman expressed sympathy for teachers. "Teachers are working themselves into the ground in a way that is just not sustainable. Education has to allow pupils to take far more responsibility for their own learning. All the evidence is that the more pupils are involved in the formative process, the better their self-esteem, motivation and attitude to learning. If pupils are not motivated, then teachers are banging their heads against a brick wall anyway. A teacher can only work with a pupil to develop an individualised learning plan if there is easy access to high quality performance data. That is exactly what we are trying to achieve, but teachers need to see formative assessment as integral to teaching and learning, and not as an extra burden. They have to see it as the way to both lighten their workload and improve their effectiveness."
The QCA report says that time is not an issue for teachers who integrate formative assessment into their classroom practice. Pupils take on the formative process, and that relieves time pressures from teachers.
- Survey of Teachers for Goal plc "Teachers Now Working A 56-Hour Week". MORI. March-April 2001
- "Report on Teachers' Perception of Formative Assessment". Ann Neesom. QCA April 2000
Technical details
MORI interviewed a total of 1,001 teachers in England and Wales between 13-26 March 2001 by telephone using CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing). Quotas were set by region, type of school (secondary or primary) and subject taught.
