Contesting educational assessment policies in Australia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11488146 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Joy Cummings (0000-0001-9221-7677, Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, corresponding author), Fabienne van der Kleij (0000-0002-1013-0218, Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), Lenore Adie (0000-0003-3874-397X, Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 836-857 |
| Publication date | 2019-11-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Education Policy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0268-0939 • E-ISSN: 1464-5106 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02680939.2019.1608375 |
| OpenAlex | W2943081862 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 58 |
Assessment is a major component of education, significant in directing what is identified as valued student learning. This paper is framed within an understanding of imperative and exhortative policy. Two paradigmatically different, and potentially contesting, assessment policy directions in Australian education – educational accountability to monitor school and teacher performance, and teacher assessment practices to improve learning (assessment for learning [AfL] or formative assessment) – are examined for their impact on teacher professionalism. Both approaches have official endorsement in Australian policy. Mandated participation in national tests is indicative of educational accountability assessments under national direction. While also endorsed nationally, AfL implementation is reliant on state and territory direction. Our examination reveals tensions in the alignment of both policies. This is evident in the impact of accountability assessment on AfL implementation, in particular, teachers’ understandings of valued assessment evidence. We conclude that a paradigmatic shift to support student learning in Australian schools is a policy imperative that includes the need for professional development and learning support for teachers
Accountability · Assessment for learning · Educational assessment · Formative assessment · Pedagogy · Policy learning · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Standards-based assessment · Summative assessment · Educational Assessment and Improvement · Public Administration · Student Assessment and Feedback · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
Literacy assessment in the early years of schooling in an era of neoliberalism
Assessment and learning
Academic Optimism Profiles and Teachers' Conceptions of Assessment in a High‐Stakes System
Teachers’ beliefs about feedback practice as related to student self-regulation, self-efficacy, and language skills in teaching English as a foreign language
Quality and tyranny
Are Australian students' academic skills declining? Interrogating 25 years of national and international standardised assessment data
Literacy assessment as teacher agency and expertise
Tensions between policy aspirations and enactment
Dimensiones epistemológicas en los sistemas de accountability de la calidad educativa
How Schools Do Policy
Testing Times
Formative assessment
Developing the theory of formative assessment
Assessment and Classroom Learning
The structure of scientific revolutions
Professional development of teachers—A prerequisite for AfL to be successfully implemented in the classroom
Rethinking accountability in a knowledge society
Pedagogies of transformation
Policy borrowing, policy learning
Ideas for changing educational systems, educational policy and schools
Public accountability in the age of neo‐liberal governance
Testing regimes, accountabilities and education policy
The ghostly workings of Danish accountability policies
Policy enactments in the UK secondary school
A logic of appropriation
Media accounts of school performance
Catalyst data’
Validity and participation
The growth of high‐stakes testing in the USA
Accountability as a policy technology
Beyond Fourth-Grade Science
The TIMSS “Final Year” Study and Report
Perspectives on Alternative Assessment Reform
The teacher's soul and the terrors of performativity
Rethinking neoliberalism
| Unique citing works | 9 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,5 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 9 |