I think needing a number for assessment comes from SLT. I always felt that, as a primary school teacher, I wasn't fully trusted with my judgements of a pupil's progress. SLT often wanted a number or grade to get a snapshot of the progress for the class. Whilst I agree this has it's uses I much prefer using teachers professional judgement to truly assess where children are.
Thanks for commenting and agree that teachers' professional judgement is likely to provide better information about where pupils are, particularly if combined with comparative judgement.
“Does it need a number?” is such a pertinent question. It feels as though assessment is never valuable enough without one. The problem I see is that we have people who like to analyse things numerically/in data form and people who rely on intuition to find the truth. Both are valuable but the focus on data prioritises the input of data-people and those of us who can say just as much through intuition aren’t listened to. The resulting infrastructure is then better suited to both analysing through data and educating those who like to see outcomes in that form, and the cycle goes on.
I’ve just had a conversation with my partner about her nephew, who is exploring secondary schools. One school they visited finished at 2.30, which sounds great, but it’s been achieved by reducing the children’s breaks to a minimum. I get the feeling that numbers and figures led this discussion with no input on intuition!
I think needing a number for assessment comes from SLT. I always felt that, as a primary school teacher, I wasn't fully trusted with my judgements of a pupil's progress. SLT often wanted a number or grade to get a snapshot of the progress for the class. Whilst I agree this has it's uses I much prefer using teachers professional judgement to truly assess where children are.
Thanks for commenting and agree that teachers' professional judgement is likely to provide better information about where pupils are, particularly if combined with comparative judgement.
“Does it need a number?” is such a pertinent question. It feels as though assessment is never valuable enough without one. The problem I see is that we have people who like to analyse things numerically/in data form and people who rely on intuition to find the truth. Both are valuable but the focus on data prioritises the input of data-people and those of us who can say just as much through intuition aren’t listened to. The resulting infrastructure is then better suited to both analysing through data and educating those who like to see outcomes in that form, and the cycle goes on.
Rant over 😂
Great points Jack, am looking to have more conversations about this
I’ve just had a conversation with my partner about her nephew, who is exploring secondary schools. One school they visited finished at 2.30, which sounds great, but it’s been achieved by reducing the children’s breaks to a minimum. I get the feeling that numbers and figures led this discussion with no input on intuition!