Can the Two Positions be Reconciled?

TY - CHAP

T1 - Can the Two Positions be Reconciled?

AU - Lum, Gerard

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - The Afterword seeks to reconcile the two seemingly incompatible claims of the book: first, the claim that assessment threatens to damage the education of children, to the extent that it serves its intended purpose of allowing comparisons to be made between schools; second, the claim that meaningful assessment is an indispensable part of the process of education. Lum begins by questioning the plausibility of the ‘interconnected knowledge thesis’, arguing that the distinction that is more substantively at issue relates not to knowledge but to the stance an assessor is required to take towards the evidence of knowledge and that there is a choice between two fundamentally different approaches: what he refers to as ‘prescriptive’ and ‘expansive’ modes of assessment. He argues that whilst both approaches play a vital role in teaching and learning, neither, for different reasons, can feasibly be used for the high-stakes assessment of schools and teachers.

AB - The Afterword seeks to reconcile the two seemingly incompatible claims of the book: first, the claim that assessment threatens to damage the education of children, to the extent that it serves its intended purpose of allowing comparisons to be made between schools; second, the claim that meaningful assessment is an indispensable part of the process of education. Lum begins by questioning the plausibility of the ‘interconnected knowledge thesis’, arguing that the distinction that is more substantively at issue relates not to knowledge but to the stance an assessor is required to take towards the evidence of knowledge and that there is a choice between two fundamentally different approaches: what he refers to as ‘prescriptive’ and ‘expansive’ modes of assessment. He argues that whilst both approaches play a vital role in teaching and learning, neither, for different reasons, can feasibly be used for the high-stakes assessment of schools and teachers.

M3 - Chapter

SN - 9781472572295

T3 - Key Debates in Educational Policy

SP - 107

EP - 131

BT - Educational Assessment on Trial

A2 - Davis, Andrew

A2 - Winch, Christopher

PB - Bloomsbury Academic

CY - London

ER -