Curriculum and Assessment Developments

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Curriculum and Assessment Developments

• Hal ONeill

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Who is the NCCA?

• NCCA statutory remit (1998)
• advise the Minister curriculum for early
  childhood education, primary and post-primary
  schools
• Consultation and partnership
• education partners

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Current Issue?
NCCA Resources info_at_ncca.ie

• Play in Early Childhood Education
• Mobile phones supporting teaching and learning in
  Gaeilge
• Introduction to Standardised Testing
• Learning in Science
• Key Skills.
• and more!

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Corporate website www.ncca.ie
NCCA Resources info_at_ncca.ie

• Updates on NCCA areas of work
• Resources, e.g. Parents DVD
• Guidelines, e.g. Assessment guidelines for
  primary schools
• Publications

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Curriculum online www.curriculumonline.ie
NCCA Resources info_at_ncca.ie
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Whats involved?
NCCA Resources ACTION

• Develop ACTION Assessment, Curriculum and
  Teaching Innovation on the Net
• Showing rather than telling
• Complement guidelines
• Teaching scenarios, resources and solutions
• Range of media - text, video, photos

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Inclusion NCCAs contribution
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Inclusion NCCAs contribution
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Primary Curriculum 1999

• to enable children to become lifelong learners
  through developing positive attitudes to learning
  and the ability to learn independently
• to enable children to develop literacy skills,
  comprehension skills and expressive skills in
  language and to appreciate the power and beauty
  of language

• communicate clearly and confidently using a
  range of linguistic, symbolic, representational
  and physical expression locate, extract, record
  and interpret information from various sources
• use information and communication technologies
  to enhance learning
• read fluently and with understanding
• develop a love of and an interest in reading

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Access to authentic materials

• Newspapers (e.g. Irish Times free newspaper
  archive - www.ireland.com is available as a free
  service in primary and post-primary
  schools through www.askaboutireland.ie)
• Access to online resources
• Perhaps a teacher-specific section of the library
  as a way to manage resources which come from
  NCCA, DES and so on
•  

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Post-primary junior cycle

• Issues in transition from primary school
• Print, image, and resource rich environment
• Tosometimes plainer and less stimulating
  surrounds
• ESRI research
• Importance of informal supports
• Teacher/student relationship is central
• Curriculum stimulates and challenges
• Positive academic self-image
• Literacy development can take a backward step
• Hands-on, active learning

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Junior Cycle Review since 1998

• Addressing the curriculum as a whole
• Re-balancing of syllabus documents
• Overload, overlap, obsolescence
• Learning outcomes
• Focus on learning skills promoting independent
  learning
• Broadening the assessment conversation
• Looking at school structures especially in the
  light of ESRI findings

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Junior cycle

• Rebalancing of junior cycle syllabuses
• Seven subjects coming towards completion
• Art, craft, design,
• English,
• Environmental and social studies,
• Geography,
• History,
• Home economics,
• Music
• Discussions on sequencing, timelines and
  necessary accompanying material

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Introduction of rebalanced syllabuses

• Issue to the Department of Education and Science
• Information for teachers and schools on the
  adjustments made
• NCCA website to provide updates and support
  materials

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Fact-sheets for each subject

• Information for teachers, parents and others
• Will be web published over the coming months
• Some limited publishing later

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Assessment for Learning

• Initiative in response to the dominance of
  assessment and examinations within the Irish
  system
• 2003 200?
• Significant international movement
• Aims
• Better engagement with learning
• Higher levels of motivation
• Self-assessment and reflection
• Autonomous learners

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Assessment of Learning

• Remote from site of learning
• Measures achievement
• Marks and grades
• Examinations
• The Certificate

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Assessment for Learning

• Occurs at the site of learning
• Shared learning goals and success criteria
• Support for learning through feedback
• Fosters self-assessment and independence
• Leads to improved learning

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AfL Key Principles

• Sharing the learning intention
• Sharing the criteria for success
• Providing feedback based on the criteria for
  success

• Involves students in assessing their own learning
• Teaching adjusted to take account of the outcome
  of assessment for learning

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NCCA Initiative 2003 - 2007

• Web pages at www.ncca.ie
• Teacher networks in Cork and Sligo
• Expanded range of subjects 2004/05
• Monitoring and reporting on outcomes
• Work in progress exemplifying student work
  2005/06/07 ACTION Website

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Offering Feedback

• Providing feedback on the learning task rather
  than on the person
• Using a bank of exemplars to suggest to students
  what they are aiming forthe bigger picture
• Encourage students to judge their work by how
  much they have learned and the progress they have
  made
• Help students to understand where they are in
  relation to learning goals (outcomes/intentions)
  and how to make further progress
• Encourage collaboration among students

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AfL develops learning skills

• N.B. Those skills are not the curriculumthey do
  not replace subject aims, rationale, or content
• They aim to facilitate and enhance learning
• There is not a finite bag of tricks approach
• Neither does AfL aim to replace the Junior
  Certificate examinations

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• Towards a different school culture
• Towards a re-structured learning experience at
  senior cycle
• Towards a re-balanced curriculum
• Towards different assessment arrangements

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• Investment in change
• Professional development for teachers and support
  for schools
• Information for and engagement with parents
• Monitoring, research and evaluation

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Phase one curriculum components
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Subject review and development underpinned by.

• Key skills
• Learning outcomes
• Syllabus updating
• Effective learning
• Differentiation
• Assessment

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Arts and Humanities

• Politics and Society
• Physical Education
• Social, Personal and Health Education
• Languages
• Irish, English, modern foreign languages
• Sciences
• Syllabuses and second component assessment
• Mathematics
• Preparing for Project Maths

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Review of Languages

• A language space in the curriculum
• The European perspective
• The school as a resource for language learning
  a plurilingual environment
• The Languages of Schooling
• The language needs of newcomers
• The language richness newcomers bring

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Short Courses

• Enterprise
• Draft short course almost complete
• Psychology
• Work on the syllabus is now nearing completion
• Assessment under discussion
• Course in Preparation for Work being considered
• Discussions on recognition for higher education
• One or two short courses will issue to DES as
  examples

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Transition Units

• Sample transition units on website
• Soap Operas and Popular Culture
• Food Matters
• Exploring models of validation
• a school-based model
• Validation of individual units

• http//www.itv.com/page.asp?partid90 Link to ITV
  Website on Soaps
• http//www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/ Link to
  Eastenders Site
• http//seven.com.au/homeandaway/ Home and Away
  site
• http//www.ifi.ie Irish Film Institute website

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Overview of 2007/2008

• Moving towards completion on
• Curriculum Framework - SPHE
• Short Course - Enterprise
• Revised subjects - Science
• New subject - Politics and Society
• Transition Units
• Unifying curriculum development, teaching and
  learning, learning support Project Maths

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Other considerations for 2007/2008

• Communicating the developments
• Sensitivity to pace
• Using insights from senior cycle research
• Recognition and certification
• Planning for implementation
• Approaches to consultation

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ElementsInformation Processing

• Accessing information from a range of sources
• Selecting and discriminating between sources
  based on their reliability and suitability for
  purpose
• Recording, organising, summarising and
  integrating information
• Presenting information using a range of
  information and communication technologies

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Key skills what they are

• Transferable skills
• Essential for development of the person as
• an individual
• a successful learner
• a family member
• a participative citizen
• Contribute to the development of subject-specific
  practical/vocational skills

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Critical and creative thinking

• Examining patterns and relationships, classifying
  and ordering information
• Analysing and making good arguments, challenging
  assumptions
• Hypothesising and making predictions, examining
  evidence and reaching conclusions
• Identifying and analysing problems and decisions,
  exploring options and alternatives, solving
  problems and evaluating outcomes
• Thinking imaginatively, actively seeking out new
  points of view, problems and/or solutions, being
  innovative and taking risks

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Communicating

• Analysing and interpreting texts and other forms
  of communication
• Expressing opinions, speculating, discussing,
  reasoning and engaging in debate and argument
• Engaging in dialogue, listening attentively and
  eliciting opinions, views and emotions
• Composing and performing in a variety of ways
• Presenting in a range of media

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Working with others

• Working with others in a variety of contexts for
  different goals and purposes
• Identifying, evaluating and achieving collective
  goals
• Identifying responsibilities in a group and
  establishing practices associated with different
  roles in a group
• Developing good relationships with others and a
  sense of well-being in a group
• Acknowledging individual differences, negotiating
  and resolving conflicts
• Checking progress, reviewing the work of the
  group and personally reflecting on ones own
  contribution

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Being personally effective

• Being able to appraise oneself, evaluate ones
  own performance, receive and respond to feedback
• Identifying, evaluating and achieving personal
  goals, including developing and evaluating action
  plans
• Developing personal qualities that help in new
  and difficult situations, such as taking
  initiatives, being flexible, being reliable and
  being able to persevere when difficulties arise
• Being able to assert oneself as a person and
  becoming confident

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The successful learner

• Developing
• beliefs and attitudes about learning that support
  a willingness to engage with learning in new
  situations
• practices that promote reflection about learning
• a commitment to improving learning
• a language for learning
• ability to make connections