Qualifications

Having started to look at assessment, I was interested in an article in Saturday's Guardian (now online - Williams (2010) ) that considers the 'reward' for completing an assessment - a qualification. There's got to be a struggle here - we must seek to motivate in a 'proper' way (according to Herzberg, at least) by rewarding achievement with praise, but there is a real danger that we are hiding the true valance of the qualification, which will have a negative effect on future motivation. Vroom's (1964) expectancy theory of motivation would support this too.

My view is that selection/assessment before starting the study of a subject must take this into account. Student's must be able to meet the assessment process and the assessment process needs to be rigorous and relevant to the organizations and institutions that value that qualification. And the student needs to know which organizations and institutions share their view of its value.




Vroom, V. H. (1964). Work and Motivation. New York, John Wiley.
Williams, R. (2010). 'Worthless qualifications' give false hope to state pupils, says Harrow head. [online]. Accessed 24 January 2010 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jan/22/deceive-children-worthless-qualifications

What is assessment for?

I don't think I can answer my own question in a single blog, but a combination of the introduction to unit 3 of my PGCE and an article I can across has made me wonder. Jessica Shepherd (2009) reported for the Guardian that the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) is considering some form of warning being attached to exam results that they may not reflect the ability of students or their suitability for - say - a particular university course. Does this then suggest that a generic assessment is really no use at all? Are assessments only any use when they are designed to test a specific level of understanding?

Answers coming soon - I hope.


Shepherd, J. (2009). "Exam results could carry inaccuracy warning" [online]. Accessed 16 January 2010 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/dec/22/exam-results-warning

New term, new face

Finally back on the PGCE course and it was interesting to note a change in dynamic in my learning set. Two things appeared to affect everybody's mood - a new lecturer and the post-assignment feeling that we were starting from the beginning again.

We had also lost a member of the group who had been a very lively contributor and I very much had the sense that the group was lashing out at our new tutor, who was probably unaware of some of the issues at least. This reminded me of Tuckman's forming: storming: norming: performing: adjourning model (businessballs 2009). Putting myself in the tutor's position, this is certainly something to factor into a first lesson, even if the group has worked together for a while and is reported as 'OK' by previous tutors.


Businessballs. (2009). Bruce Tuckman [online]. Accessed 14 January 2010 from http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.htm