Articles on Assessment
Reviving the Flames of Excellence: Igniting a System that Learns
The theme of this new paper by Michael Absolum, Adrienne Carlisle and Mary Chamberlain is explained in its subtitle: How Using Assessment Properly Should Solve New Zealand’s Education Woes.
The paper outlines our current education woes, then presents a learning framework, analyses the extent to which the key elements in the framework are present across our compulsory education system, and proposes actions that will ensure that our education system delivers real value for all learners.
Improve education provision in Aotearoa: By building assessment and learning capability
To trigger your thinking and professional discussions, have a read of this 2023 article by NZAI president, Associate Professor Jenny Poskitt.
The scholarly article proposes building assessment and learning capability to provide clarity on the what, when and how of teaching and learning to enable the education system to celebrate ākonga diversity and agency through life wide and lifelong learning.
You can find the article here in the New Zealand Annual Review of Education.
The value and portability of NCEA
This 2023 opinion piece by NZAI President Jenny Poskitt, subsequently published in the New Zealand Herald, highlights the value of NCEA both nationally and internationally, New Zealand’s close connections with international education discourse, and the ways in which NCEA is seeking to integrate subject areas to better equip learners to connect important concepts.
You can find the article here on the Massey University website.
Excellence – a competence to mastery model – NZQA discussion paper
NZQA has issued a discussion paper exploring the purpose of the grades Achieved, Merit and Excellence, how they are framed in achievement standards and assessment activities, and how understanding of each grade informs assessor judgements. The paper is intended to provoke and stimulate discussion that will contribute to forming a consistent understanding of what Achieved, Merit and Excellence mean within each subject. You can find it here.
Writings on Education during the COVID years
During the difficult years of the COVID pandemic, we published several articles on the topic. Two are written by NZAI President Professor Jenny Poskitt and others by school leaders who tell the stories of doing the best for their students under extreme circumstances.
