Category Archives: FrontPage

Education assessment in QLD schools

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As a psychologist, who has worked with both adolescents and teachers, it has been my experience that students have been discouraged to achieve and may, rather, experience feelings of failure.  At the same time, many teachers are feeling burnt out, stressed and are leaving the profession due to the current assessment system which appears to be deeply flawed and riddled with inconsistencies.  The Queensland methods appear in many ways in complete contrast to promoting an emotionally and psychologically healthy learning environment.  As I understand it, commonly established assessment systems – approved by many jurisdictions around the world – were already in place in Queensland before this latest new system was developed. Commonly accepted school systems employ analytical methods that involve fair weighted marking of tests so that students may receive  direct feedback on achievement and also percentage combinations (compositions) of multiple assessment results, some of which should include common statewide tests, towards a predictable grade.

 

Boys avoiding Biology

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I teach Chemistry and Biology. I despair at the fact that Biology is now little more than a science themed humanities course. The apocalypse in Biology happened in 2004, when we were the first science to get the crazy new “no marks allowed system”. We are limited to 1 test per year, and students get their final grade mostly from assignments and EEIs. A student can get a VHA with almost no transferable knowledge of Biological concepts. Compared to 10 years ago I now teach a class of girls, and I don’t blame the boys from avoiding the subject. How many boys are we driving away from careers in Biological research, because the high school subject we teach has become ridiculous?

Letter to Hon. John Paul Langbroek

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Dear Sir

I am a Secondary Maths/Science teacher in one of the High Schools in the Toowoomba region. I have had grave concerns for the current syllabi in Maths and Science since their mandatory introduction a number of years ago. I fear the system is faulty to the point of invalidity.

It is only since being an active member on the Physics Discussion Lists that I became aware that I am not the only dinosaur in the minority and that many share my view. It is only since Professor Peter Ridd had decided to do something about it that I became more actively involved. After the meeting on Saturday 16th this month, I put the enclosed petition to the staff of this school and have made contributions to Professor Ridd’s site PLATO QLD.

I must stress that my views are not shared by everybody. There are many who have embraced the current system and can work well within it. This is just a reality situation where, as you know, you cannot please everybody. However, I wonder how these same teachers would fare under a system of less stress, where they are able to prepare, teach and prepare their students as best they can without the burden of spending hundreds of hours working on assessment related tasks.

I will be observing carefully the developments that may occur in the Queensland system of assessment over the next year with great interest.

Yours Sincerely

The Most Unproductive Education System in the World

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At Last!…  Please excuse my exuberance but I’ve been waiting years and years for people to come to their senses and protest about the complex, unfair and extremely work- intensive system of education we have in Queensland.  Were it producing high standards, one could possibly accept it, but the truth is, despite the massive demands made on both teachers and students, standards have been steadily dropping over the duration of my teaching here. We now have (as far as I can judge) the most UNPRODUCTIVE  education system in the world.

I graduated from University in the 60’s and have been teaching  French, Spanish and sometimes English, since then to the present day.  I have taught in the UK and Europe, as well as in Queensland and Victorian Schools.  I attempted to retire several years ago, but I have been constantly asked to do short contracts, teaching in various Queensland Independent Schools.  At the school where I am currently teaching, I have experienced teaching the far superior International Baccalaureate course. In this system teachers can actually add up marks (yes, I could hardly believe it) and fairly give an overall score. The final papers are marked externally so the students know that nothing can be manipulated within their school.  It is no wonder the numbers of students enrolled in these I.B. courses are rising every year.

Things have been getting progressively worse in our schools.  Students are choosing more and more the “easier options” of drama, art, media studies etc. which do not require prior learning.  The problem with languages and maths is that they are cumulative subjects  needing to be built on carefully year after year.  They are regarded as “hard” subjects.  The problem we face is that the “hard “ subjects are no longer required for a good exit result.  Nor are they required for University entrance.  Many students drop the “hard” subjects as soon as they can, hoping to migrate to a subject like drama. One of the problems we face in languages is that students coming fresh from Primary school are ill-equipped to deal with anything that smacks of grammar or rigorous learning. To add insult to injury we have to cope with copious QSA requirements devised by people who are far removed from the coal face.

I regret I was not able to attend the meeting on June 16th.  I do not know how much was achieved but we must all continue to fight this ridiculous system which is needlessly depriving our young of a quality education.

Unacceptable workload

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I teach in Brisbane.  I would have loved to come to the meeting but I am caught up in the very thing that the meeting is about, that is the massive workload that the system has imposed on us. Reports are due on Monday and I still have EEIs and ERTs to mark. This is going to take all of my time this weekend, as it has on the previous two weekends. Assessment setting and marking now take a massive amount of time.  For example it takes approximately 45 to 60 minutes to mark an EEI.  Multiply that by 25 and you can see that this is an unacceptable workload, especially for the teachers who have 3 or 4 senior classes. Setting assessment has also become unbelievably time consuming. Previously I could write an exam in about four hours.  I have had to write two this term and each has taken about 16 hours to write. One of these exams was a year 9 exam which should have been very easy to do. Marking has also become time consuming.  Six hours to mark and record a sixty minute year 10 exam. I see a lot of science teachers who are near breaking point.  I am yet to meet one who likes the system.

Why QSA’s assessment system is wrong

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Currently all assessment in Queensland schools are school based, meaning each teacher sets the exam papers, marks them and grades their students. In my opinion this form of assessment lends itself to many abuses and makes comparison of performance between schools meaningless. Listed below are 12 of my concerns. I must stress that none of these concerns is as a result of any incident that happened at the school where I am currently teaching.

  1. Schools have the opportunity to offer revision sheets that have direct similarities to the exam students sit a few days later. Also, some teachers, during revision, work through questions similar to those that appear in the exam.
  2. Most schools recycle a substantial percentage of an exam paper year after year. Students are able to access their exam papers after term 1 of the following year, raising issues of future student familiarity with the assessment items provided by the school.
  3. All members of the teaching staff have electronic access to assessment items stored on the network. It is impossible to know when an unauthorised copy has been made. A similar situation occurs when paper copies of exams are stored in unsecure areas accessible by all staff and in some cases by students. Some of these staff have relatives studying at the school, and some tutor students from the school.
  4. There have also been instances where students have managed to gain access to staff drive on the school computer system and copy supposedly secure files.
  5. Old exam papers and draft versions of upcoming exam papers are often not disposed of securely. It is not uncommon to see students rummaging through school rubbish bins prior to an exam period.
  6. Inconsistency in teacher-marking and in levels of exam difficulty between schools within a district and between districts is impossible to monitor or moderate.  A student’s grade depends more on which school they attend or who their teacher is and not on what they know.
  7. It is difficult for a panellist to determine whether challenging/complex problems included in an assessment package have been partially or fully rehearsed.
  8. The level of assistance provided to students in an exam is often not disclosed. ‘Assistance’ changes the conditions of the exam and is difficult for the panellists to gauge. Some teachers help students during exams. Some schools allow their students to bring with them one or two pages of ‘cheat sheets’ containing formulae, examples, definitions, graphs and diagrams. These sheets are not attached to the student’s answer sheets when they are sent to the panel. In one case I know (not at the current school), two pages containing differentiation and integration formulae with worked examples were handed to the students during a Maths B exam and was not attached to the answer sheets when sent to the panel.
  9. Teachers know what questions are in the exam and, when talking to students, are placed in the situation of reassuring students without jeopardising the ‘unseen’ nature of an exam.
  10.  Sometimes students doing the same exam are allowed to sit next to each other. A quick glance at the neighbour’s graph could mean the difference between getting an A and an E in that question.
  11.  Students, who are unable to do an exam on the scheduled day due to being sick or being on holidays, sit the exam on their return. These students have the opportunity to find out from their fellow students what questions appeared in the exam.
  12.  Students are made to feel they mustn’t upset their teacher in any way, in case they are penalised for their behaviour when their papers are marked.

The current system is unfair to students, teachers and the schools. It is naive to assume that breaches are easily detected at moderation/verification. The panel does not have the time, resource or sometimes the expertise to investigate all possible breaches. Even if breaches are detected, verification occurs in October, making it difficult for schools to fix any problems, and limiting opportunities for students to suddenly demonstrate their full potential.

It is reasonable to assume that most teachers will conduct themselves in a professional and ethical manner most of the time. But it isn’t reasonable to assume that all teachers will conduct themselves in a professional and ethical manner all of the time, especially when their performance as a teacher is often judged by the number of VHA and HA students they produce.

I also keep asking myself why it is that after 40+ years of all the ‘educational benefits’ the moderated school-based assessment system has brought to Queensland, the overwhelming majority of school authorities around the world, including those in the other five states in Australia, are continually refusing to adopt it.

A totally school based assessment is unreliable and makes comparison of student achievement meaningless. Without some form of external assessment, we do not have a full picture of current standard of student performance or school performance. The National Curriculum must include clear statements on assessment and not leave it entirely to organisations such as the QSA which favour a totally school based system.

As a parent and teacher

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As a parent of high school children, and a teacher at the primary school level, I concur with all that has been articulated thus far and applaud your efforts and time on this issue. As an example, one of my children studies Biology in Yr12 and was required recently to complete an assessment on [topic removed]. An inordinate amount of his time as well as mine (because of his limited knowledge (aged 16/17) of the intricacies of this very complex topic) was spent trying to find the right set of arguments with which to tackle this issue, before he proceeded to research material/documents and then begin the writing process. From my involvement in this, it became an exercise in how well one could create a splendid writing piece that clearly articulated the argument/s taken. This became such a grind for him, even though he excels at English/Writing, to the point that he was becoming ‘disillusioned’ with Biology and where it was taking him. It appeared to be more about the research and writing process of producing a coherent piece of work and less about the ‘nuts and bolts’ of this type of engineering, as fascinating as it is. In my view, high school learning should be more about acquiring the content of particular learning areas so that a firm foundation of knowledge is laid, prior to any tertiary studies. Without the requisite core knowledge and ‘inspiration’ for further research and learning beyond the school system, we are sadly doing a disservice to our young people. With respect to my teaching at the primary school level, there is sufficient evidence of similar assessment methods being implemented by the QSA e.g. QCATs(Queensland Comparable Assessment Tasks – for Yr 4, 6 & 9 students), as well as the new (Qld only) C2C (Curriculum into the Classroom) implementation of the National Curriculum agenda. A grossly convoluted set of assessment methods exists for determining the ultimate grade level received by a child on their report card. QCAT assessment tasks are a creation that is unique to the QSA. Teachers conducting these tasks with students, spend a disproportionate amount of time administering and marking these, versus the benefit to students. The whole aim of conducting QCATs (according to QSA) is purely as a moderation process for teachers across the state. ie. is an ‘A’ grade or a ‘B’ grade, the same for the same piece of work, for all teachers. Parents then have the ‘pleasure’ of seeing these results on their child’s report card, and are confounded by its relevance to their child’s real abilities. The marking of these assessment tasks can take up to three weekends of a teacher’s time to complete, if done as prescribed by the GTMJ (Guide To Making Judgements) marking guide/process. This precious time would be better spent creating innovative and inspiring lessons for our ‘younger minds’. The problem is, those in the QSA are not on the ground listening to people like us at the coalface of teaching.

Biology’s Situation

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I am not sure if you are aware of Biology’s situation so I would like to fill you in:

1. Back in the early 2000′s, after Chem and Physics told the QSA that they were not happy with the new syllabii during the original trial, Biology’s syllabus was forced upon them with no trial year. This was done by manipulating the definition of a minor/ major change. And, the changes were major (everything was changed including criteria, assessment etc. except the basic content). Biology teachers had many meetings with the QSA and we were basically told to ‘get on with it and make it work, as that was our job’.

2. The original syllabus (2004) was so unworkable that in 2006 they had to put out an amendment to it which was nearly as big as the syllabus itself. A review is long overdue, but has been now put on hold until the National Curriculum comes in. There are still major flaws, e.g. lack of cohesion between the exit statements and the objectives

3. Criteria – we also have three criteria in Biology, but unlike the other sciences and senior maths our criteria are all separate. I believe that for the other subjects, the third criteria is part of the other two. In Biology it is called ‘Evaluating Biological Issues’, which in itself has many processes that we had to teach our students. This has compounded our workload, as you can imagine. The QSA has only just started to come up with any examples to guide us with this area in the last year or so.

4. In 2005 a group of coordinators put together a CD to help teachers who were struggling. The QSA ended up being part of this because they had then realised what was happening. This CD contained only examples of assessment, and were not exemplars, as we were still trying to get our heads around the criteria.

5. Assessment – multiplied to the nth degree. The QSA expects no multiple choice (which I have just ignored), expects criteria sheets and no marks (I feel you can put the two together to achieve a standard, and this is how I have worked it), expects questions to be ‘open ended’ so that you have to award standards according to ‘how far’ a student can answer the question – discriminates against SA and low HA. Our ability to discriminate clearly between students is more difficult. I have rejected these, BUT I could do this as I have been teaching for a long time and felt confident in my approach. The huge worry has been the newer teachers in smaller country schools with no resources. Marking is horrendous. At least with Maths, Chem and Physics there is an analytical type approach to the questions. With Biology we don’t even have this option. The ERs and EEIs – for Biology the ER is compulsory. This is a major increase in workload for students, teachers and lab technicians. Because we have had to restructure our teaching around and through these pieces of assessment, the time we have available to spend on concepts has been reduced. However, the trial and error that has occurred over the last 8 years is incredible, with little support from the QSA – even at different workshops we were told different things…….

6. Workload overall is massive. I know many excellent Biology teachers who now refuse to teach the subject because of this. As for our students – I admire them for their effort. This must affect numbers in the Senior Sciences overall. In fact, the QSA in 2004 actually said that they expected Biology numbers to decrease………………….

I am sure there is more I could add but will leave it here.

Ironic Shame

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I would like very much to attend the meeting on June 16th, however I am currently overwhelmed by the demands of marking senior Chemistry classes assessment (EEIs and criteria based examinations).

I have also been advised by colleagues not to attend on the grounds it may later effect my employment prospects (though I am not sure how much I believe that to be true). I just wanted you and your colleagues to know that if the number of teachers at your meeting is in any way disappointing, it is likely due to one of these reasons. The majority of teachers in my staffroom welcome this discussion, but will probably also be too busy with the demands of criteria based marking.

It is truly, a very ironic shame that many teachers will be absent and miss the opportunity to share their ample opinions on the topic.

Good luck with the discussion.

Stress and Distress of Students

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From my perspective as both a parent and a professional who has worked closely with young people I am very supportive of any iniative which challenges the current system.

Personally I have three daughters who have completed year 12 and one daughter who is currently in Yr 12.

Professionally I have lost count of the number of young people in year 11 & 12 who have expressed their stress and indeed distress at the seemingly ever increasing workload including the vast array of assessment pieces.

My eldest daughter is currently studying at a Masters level and I would venture to say that she finds the workload more realistic than my daughter in Year 12.

It saddens me to see the effect that this stress is having not only in this developmentally significant  phase of their lives but potentially the ongoing and sometimes insidious effects which may go unnoticed until they raise their head as fully blown mental health issues.

I do not believe that this is alarmist but rather my observations of what I have seen first hand and what has been shared with me by young people themselves.

Our young people are a precious and unique asset both within our families and our community. It behoves us to tread carefully and rather then set them up for potential burnout to instead skill them with an intellectual curiosity and emotional resilience which sets them on a pathway to become both enthusiastic life long learners and compassionate, wise members of our global community.

I recently had a conversation with a teacher who stated that she no longer had time to have a relationship with her students. This struck a deep chord at the time and I wondered what this may actually mean. There seemed to me to be a great sense of loss in this statement. Indeed something to reflect upon.

Jennifer McMahon
B Health and Community Service, Major in Counselling