Revise Section on Assessment

Recommendation (6): that the section on assessment in New Zealand Curriculum Framework and Te Anga Marautanga o Aotearoa is revised

The New Zealand curriculum and ngä Marautanga o Aotearoa do not provide enough guidance on assessment. The commencement of the National Assessment Strategy since the publication of The New Zealand Curriculum Framework and Te Anga Marautanga o Aotearoa his addressing the lack of material about effective assessment practice. Information about `good practice' from this strategy will need to be incorporated into the reviewed frameworks.

Rationale

Effective teaching practice is complex and involves dynamic relationships between curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. All of these components are integrated as teachers respond to the individual learning needs of students.

Teachers reported the following as strengths: curriculum policy is linked to assessment policy; assessment focuses on learning goals; and the curriculum emphasises the needs of learners who are having difficulty.

There is concern that about the clarity of assessment information provided by the curriculum and ngä tauäkï Marautanga mö te motu. The international commentaries state that the achievement objectives are not expressed in terms of measurable outcomes.