Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

The education space today is driven by data. We would be naïve to think this wasn’t in fact just a snapshot of the society we live in. Our lives are based on performance improvement plans whether it is our household budget or a major business’ productivity report. Our capabilities are being assessed all the time and we need to be comfortable with being able to measure our growth as we move forward.

The College is working hard to implement the strategies of Visible Learning, simply, making our students learning more visible to them. Do they understand and internalise what they are learning, why they are learning and how they are learning? We are asking our students to come on the learning journey, not just be passive passengers who enjoy the view along the way.

Now to the Big Bad Wolf, ASSESSMENT. This aspect of our children’s’ lives must become the friend and not the enemy. It can’t be a tool for belittlement and berating, “why didn’t you get an A!” It can no longer be a ready-made excuse for anxiety. The idea of assessment is to see what we know and more importantly what we need to know. Adults bandy round the statement, “we learn by our mistakes,” yet when it comes to assessment the focus is on a single letter. The importance of this single letter is reinforced by the adults who interact with our children.

Queensland children can no longer be afraid of testing. For a Math or Science student, one test will constitute 50% of their final Year 12 grade. Our children need to be comfortable with the existence of assessment in their lives and see it as a valuable friend that allows them to show their best, a best that is the result of hard work and effort.

Corwin, the education provider who is leading our movement into Visible Learning, describes it like this, “It is about seeing learning though the eyes of students so that they can answer the questions; Where am I going? How am I going? Where to next? These questions are the foundation for developing assessment-capable learners.” Students are taking a real interest in their learning and making assessment an integral part of their journey.

We have to put the days behind us when a student walks into an externally produced test and writes their name and answers (B) to all the questions. These episodes in a student’s life take a far greater significance when, at age 17, they will sit exams that will ask them to show what they have learnt in a high stakes environment. If we continue to portray assessment as the 'Big Bad Wolf' we may not like the consequences. Something can be challenging, make us nervous and put us under pressure but this is a good thing. A challenge brings out our best if we are taught this from a young age. Use assessment to find out your strengths and your weaknesses and what do you need to learn going forward?

Save the best for last, the biggest wolf of them all, NAPLAN. In May, students in Australia will walk into a familiar setting, with a caring adult, surrounded by their friends and be asked to show what they know and what they don’t. If we refuse to encourage our children to embrace this opportunity to inform their futures, we are doing them a great disservice. The experience of external testing, the data collected and the information for subsequent teaching and learning is too important to be overshadowed and demeaned by personal thoughts on the government’s right to test our children.

We need a mind shift. We can no longer be molly coddling students through their assessment, making excuses for a lack of effort. This new 21^st Century world we live in is one of transparency where we are asked on a regular basis to validate our performance. Childhood is a time for growth, learning and experiences; let’s make this visible to our students and support our children to achieve their best, yet also encourage them that mistakes are important for learning. Getting something incorrect on an assessment piece doesn’t mean you can’t do it, it just says you can’t do it YET.

This is a challenge that is supported by the fantastic team of three, the Family, the Student and the College. The strength of this team is vitally important for the growth of our children. If you are unsure or confronted by this article or would just like to clarify anything, please contact me at the College. In closing, we are at a crossroads and in the words of Robert Frost, “two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less travelled by and that has made all the difference.”

Steve Gillespie

(acting) Assistant Principal Middle Years.