The place for assessment in Citizenship Education

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There are some who believe “ the current model of the English education system demands assessment because “measurement produces focus and targets that can be met and monitored. Through these come improved performance and the raising of standards. So the theory holds” .


Some debate occurs around the place of assessment in citizenship education, which became a statutory entitlement for Key Stage and 4 students from August 00. David Kerr, Professional Officer of the Advisory Group on Citizenship , observes that


“Assessment in citizenship education can make a vital contribution to raising educational standards and improving pupil attainment and achievement…Assessment in citizenship education can contribute to raising standards in the context of the overall values, aims and purposes that underpin the school curriculum and the work of schools.”


Others, however, have expressed the view that assessment would lead to “an inevitable drive to focus on teaching for formal tests” . Such a focus, it is said, would be inimical to the view of Citizenship education proposed by the Advisory Group on Citizenship because it would negate the importance given to the active, participatory component of ‘effective education for citizenship’


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“We stress, however, that citizenship education is education for citizenship, behaving and acting as a citizen, therefore it is not just knowledge of citizenship and civic society; it also implies developing values, skills and understanding.” (my italics)


Whatever your position, it is clear that assessment in citizenship education is as much a requirement as the teaching of the subject. In what follows I will examine three aspects of assessment in citizenship education, arising from


§ the statutory entitlement to citizenship education at KS and KS4, which means that schools will have to assess their provision to “ensure that all pupils at least get the opportunity to experience” citizenship education.


§ the statutory requirement for citizenship education to be included in annual written reports to parents of pupils in years 7 to , and for teachers to assess pupils’ attainment in citizenship education at the end of KS.


§ citizenship becoming a more established part of the formal curriculum, so that assessment of teaching and learning will occur as a matter of good practice.


Assessment of provision


Since August 00 schools have had to deliver a Citizenship curriculum that a) provides knowledge and understanding about becoming informed citizens, b) develops skills of enquiry and communication and c) develops skills of participation and responsible action. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) does not prescribe how schools should do this. Rather, “the statutory entitlement is established by setting out specific learning outcomes for each key stage” instead of the detailed programmes of study given to other subjects, to allow


“ the possibility of different approaches to citizenship education, involving different subject combinations and aspects of the curriculum based on existing good practice in each school”


Three main methods of delivery of citizenship education are available to schools


· discrete curriculum time for Citizenship


· within existing subjects


· through events and activities within or outside the school environment.


Whichever combination of these contexts is used, appropriate opportunities and experiences need to be made available to all pupils if they are to get their entitlement to citizenship education.


Schools may feel that they already teach much, if not all, of the citizenship programme of study (the most common response I have heard in secondary schools to the introduction of Citizenship as a compulsory National Curriculum subject is ‘we already do citizenship here and have done for years’). However, it behoves a school to assess its provision, particularly in light of comments from OFSTED concerning the inspection of citizenship


“Where a school’s provision is patchy, owing to heavy reliance on such incidental contributions, it will not meet National Curriculum requirements and should be reported as such.”


OFSTED advise, “(that) in planning for citizenship, schools need to audit their curriculum carefully to identify existing work that can contribute to citizenship education.” Further, in inspecting citizenship, OFSTED inspectors are directed to find out pre-inspection how the school has organized citizenship. Thus a school needs to audit, review and assess its provision, not least to ensure that it can present OFSTED with this information. More importantly, perhaps, such assessment will allow a school to evaluate its provision in order to improve the planning, co-ordination and application of policy and practices for citizenship education (see Appendix A for a checklist that the school might use to focus its approach to assessing citizenship provision).


Assessment can assist the school in drawing up a statement of its commitment to citizenship, what is going on in respect of citizenship education at the present time and, where necessary, what needs to be done in order for the school to meet its statutory duties � a framework for action, a citizenship policy statement (see Appendix B for an example of what a citizenship policy statement might look like). Such a statement is desirable, I think, as it


· indicates what citizenship stands for in the school (in a document that is available to OFSTED, staff, students, governors, parents and the wider community)


· maintains the focus of the school on the aims of citizenship education as stated in government policy and within the local community


Schools will need to ask how much of the programme of study is being or will be taught through the existing structures. What is suitable and what needs adapting within the curriculum? Which other subjects will have a responsibility for delivering citizenship? In trying to answer these questions the school can show a true commitment to the principles of citizenship education and involve a wide participation. Those responsible for delivering citizenship will obviously need to contribute, but other teaching staff, governors, parents and students should also be involved.


This desirable breadth of participation throws up some questions, of which I will mention but a few. Precisely how could such a wide involvement be fostered and coordinated? One may hope that enthusiasm for the ‘new’ subject would be high enough to encourage ‘non-specialists’ to give time and energy for a great endeavour. Even were this to be the case, how much should ‘non-specialists’ (young people and adults alike) be expected to assess the existing provision of Citizenship within the school and to suggest ways to improve it? Would young people necessarily have the vocabulary or experience to take part in assessment, evaluation and change in any significant way? Of course, the active element of the citizenship programmes of study demands just this kind of active participation from students � learning by doing. The benefit of such participation in defining the school ethos would be, I think, immense (and one which Ofsted inspectors will want to see, that shows citizenship skills throughout the school’s organization)


“The ethos of a school is therefore vital to the success or otherwise of citizenship the ethos is the kind of atmosphere that can be felt as people walk around the school, the way we work with students and visitors and the way we interact with each other. It has been referred to as the ghost in the machine � that untouchable, hidden, but all-so-apparent atmosphere that surrounds a school.”


Assessment of learning outcomes


There is a strong emphasis on the summative assessment of pupil progress and achievement in citizenship education. There is a statutory requirement for teachers to assess pupils’ attainment in citizenship education at the end of KS . This assessment should be made against the end-of-KS level description given by QCA


“Pupils have a broad knowledge and understanding of the topical events they study; the rights, responsibilities and duties of citizens; the role of the voluntary sector; forms of government; provision of public services; and the criminal and legal systems. They show how the public gets information and how opinion is formed and expressed, including through the media. They show understanding of how and why changes take place in society. Pupils take part in school and community-based activities, demonstrating personal and group responsibility in their attitudes to themselves and others”


There is no eight-point scale for citizenship as there is for other National Curriculum subjects. Instead, QCA guidance suggests that teachers assess whether students are working towards, achieving, or exceeding the end of key stage description. Teachers should then report on pupils’ progress to parents as they would for any other National Curriculum subject. The mention in QCA guidance of comparable levels of attainment (see footnote 16) would seem to suggest that reporting back by level is appropriate. Is this a correct assumption to make? If yes, could Citizenship teachers begin to create their own levels of attainment? The eight level descriptors that other National Curriculum subjects have available “causes problems for teachers who are acutely aware of the problems in using just one level to describe a student’s attainment across a whole range of skills and concepts.” . Does reporting a student’s level of attainment as ‘level 5’ in Citizenship give a helpful statement to parents about their child’s development in Citizenship? There is currently little public understanding of what level 5 in Citizenship might signify, although it could be argued that this was also recently the case for English, Maths and Science. Parents have now begun to comprehend what this level means for these subjects and will do so for Citizenship in due time. Are there more useful methods of describing attainment for a subject that is very different from, say, English or Science? A more descriptive approach to a variety of competencies may be more useful.


No formal assessment requirements apply at KS4. However pupils’ progress in citizenship education must be reported on at KS and KS4. Teachers are given some guidance from QCA about what such a report might include


· brief comments on the pupil’s progress in citizenship, i.e. strengths and areas for development


· the pupil’s general progress in the subject


The guidelines are supplemented by sample reports (see Appendix C for an example) to assist teachers in meeting the reporting requirements.


Who will be involved?


“It is important that assessment reflects the rich range of contexts and partners associated with learning in citizenship education.”


The QCA is very clear that student self-assessment should be a significant part of the process. A couple of quotes from QCA guidance illustrate this


“Planning for effective assessment of learning should involve pupils in self-assessment”


“As well as helping to set their own targets pupils should be involved in assessing their progress towards, and achievement of, them.”


Learning in Citizenship will be often be collaborative, which creates some problems about assessing one’s own achievement. In a group activity, for example, ‘what did I do?’ might pose very difficult questions for a student. Students have to be taught how to identify, firstly, the various roles within group collaboration. They should then be encouraged to recognize their own contribution. This should not be seen as a bar to the use of self-assessment; rather it is an opportunity for students to learn through doing. On the other hand…


“with the best will in the world it can be easy to be less rigorous or objective about one’s own performance than others. Peer assessment can therefore be an important additional element”


and it will be up to teachers to facilitate self- and peer assessment by providing lots of opportunities to practise, in addition to setting clear goals and objectives for the students to aid them. This will require the systematic development of necessary skills, vocabulary and attitudes over time before students can make good use of them.


Teachers will, of course, be involved…but which teachers? This will very much depend on how the school has planned its citizenship provision. If there is discrete provision, the Citizenship tutor will have an assessment role. Where provision is within existing subjects, the History or RE teacher, for example, may be involved. The form tutor may also be part of the assessment process where tutorial time has been designated as an area for citizenship activity. However


“…If a lesson or series of lessons has been designated as delivering citizenship then this must be made explicit to the children and in the lesson plan and the citizenship objectives must be assessed separately from the history, RE or science.”


It may be that the full implications of the statutory requirements have not been fully realized. Schools should not only have been teaching, but also assessing and recording citizenship since 00


“…they [teachers] should report pupils progress to parents as for other national curriculum foundation subjects from August 00”


“Teachers should work with pupils to set targets to challenge them and to build on previous experiences.”


“…allow for achievement to be collected in a citizenship portfolio and/or included in a wide profile of pupils achievements in the school”


Where activities happen outside of the formal timetable or off-site (participation in community projects or activities being a key part of the vision of citizenship education) then other people (project managers, assistants) may need to be involved in the assessment process. To what extent schools can draw on these ‘outside agents’ needs to be explored. What can they usefully provide? Will they be asked to file reports on pupils? Do they tick boxes on a list of skills the student has demonstrated? Is a one-word comment sufficient reporting? (‘Maya was a helpful member of the group’). Can the assessor be relied on to use principles of inclusion to come to a fair assessment? Will the assessor need an understanding of QCA Citizenship requirements? Such questions and more will need to be addressed by the school in setting up its assessment procedures, and although the QCA has “constantly said that it intends the assessment of citizenship to be ‘light touch’…and not be a millstone around the necks of curriculum planners” , plainly there is a great deal of work to be done in planning and coordinating assessment for reporting.


What assessment methods can be used?


As noted earlier, education for citizenship needs to cover not just knowledge, but skills of enquiry and participation if students are to get their entitlement to citizenship education. Chosen methods of summative assessment must therefore address the quality of pupils’ learning in these contexts and “include opportunities for pupils to demonstrate their development of the learning outcomes of citizenship education” , through such methods as


¨ planning and delivering a talk or presentation to other pupils in the school and also to representatives from the local community on a pressing issue or problem


¨ designing a display or website, which promotes the outcomes of a project to improve the environment of the school and its surrounding area


¨ producing a diary, logbook or portfolio of evidence of involvement in a range of activities as part of a citizenship education project with other pupils


¨ contributing to class discussions and debates about topical issues, problems and events as chosen by pupils


¨ involvement in consultation and negotiation about the school environment, through class and school councils


¨ contributing to the development of class, school or community policies, including the production of information and resources for younger pupils


¨ participating in role-plays or simulations which consider and express the opinions and experiences of other people and groups in society, and reflecting in that process of participation


¨ devising a quiz, board or card game to help explain a topical issue or problem to other pupils and negotiating to have the resource produced and included as a curriculum resource


¨ analysing information about a topical issue, problem or event and developing appropriate solutions and responses, including writing letters to local councillors or Members of Parliament (MPs), or articles for school or local newspapers


¨ using ICT (information and communications technologies) to analyse information and sources at local, national, European and international levels, and to consult with people and organisations across these levels


¨ producing evidence of involvement in planning and managing a visit or arranging for a visiting speaker, and also of reflection on that process of participation.


(adapted from a list of examples given by David Kerr. )


Teachers can then use a variety of approaches to assess students’ progression. They could informally observe students during these tasks and make notes (mental or otherwise), though teachers should be clear about what it is they are looking for � and make these criteria known to students. This approach is time-consuming and, if done in a rushed way towards the end of a lesson, may not be all that fairly or professionally carried out. If time is available , it might be more useful to have a feedback session with individual students and make notes on the session (which can then be the basis for a more informed assessment). If the feedback comes at the end of an activity or project, it could take the form of a viva at which students present some evidence of achievement towards the learning outcomes.


Internal assessment is going to mean more work for citizenship teachers (or for teachers involved in delivering citizenship). Allocating time for effective assessment with individuals or small groups would have significant cost/resource implications (e.g. covering teachers to carry out ‘orals’ for an entire year group). This is routinely done for language examinations � will citizenship be seen to be as important?


There are more formal methods of assessing learning outcomes available to schools. At Key Stage 4 there are now three QCA-approved GCSE short courses in Citizenship . They all contain elements of written examination and coursework that aim to cover the three contexts of citizenship study. Some questions should be raised about whether the exam structure can be relied upon to provide adequate assessment, particularly of a pupil’s developing citizenship skills and active community participation. Also, in the absence of an agreed national syllabus for the ‘knowledge and understanding’ component of the Citizenship programmes of study, how valid is the choice of focus of an examination board? Will it lead to a useful narrowing of a large body of knowledge or, instead to teaching for the test irrespective of the usefulness of the content? From its inception there has been no fixed syllabus, in order to allow schools to vary their citizenship content to suit local circumstances. A national standardization would remove this flexibility.


These criticisms aside, the formal examination is one method schools might adopt in tandem with the informal methods mentioned. And the use of formal methods has a side benefit (though I’m not sure whether I would like to promote this too much!) of raising the status of a subject within schools


“ …Many teachers have learned from experience that seeking to raise the status of a subject without examinations can be a thankless task. The popularity of the short course in RE has shown the difference that an exam can make in terms of how it is perceived by students and others within the school.”


There are cost implications for the school to bring in such examinations, such as examination fees, additional study resources and teacher training, although schools may feel the benefits outweigh these costs.


Other methods of formal assessment such as internal examinations (written around guidance from the QCA), certification (of skills development such as those awarded by GNVQ, LVQ, and Open College Network), and citizenship awards (the Duke of Edinburgh award being a prime example) might all be usefully employed by schools in combination with informal methods.


It would appear that the QCA has a preference for the use of portfolios as a method of assessing student’s progress in citizenship


“A portfolio offers pupils opportunities to gather evidence of their achievements in citizenship wherever they have occurred…Portfolios used throughout key stages and 4 would provide valuable records to take forward into post-16 education.”


though there is a danger that they may just “become a loose collection of pieces of completed work” if processes for using portfolios are not established. They can be used for evidence gathering towards learning outcomes such as written summaries of projects, reports written by activities leaders and certificates of merit or achievement.


Portfolios also have another, more formative, role in assessment. If students have already been creating a portfolio or citizenship logbook at KS, the continued use of it can help pupils to experience development of their citizenship skills. Portfolios provide an opportunity to support the practice of self-assessment where students are able, for example, to record ideas for future projects, reflections on their participation in citizenship activities or developments in skill areas. Thus, the QCA’s preference for portfolio use indicates the view that “assessment should be planned from the beginning as an integral part of teaching and learning”.


The place for formative assessment � assessment for learning


“Within the classroom the teacher must mediate between national requirements and individual needs”


The statutory requirements to assess learning outcomes should not detract from the conviction that Citizenship is more than a statutory subject. Education for citizenship is, inter alia, about trying to foster a critical faculty in students, to develop skills of enquiry and decision-making. It is vital, therefore, that teachers committed to the learning of their pupils use pedagogical methods that assist pupils in such learning.


Formative assessment involves pupils in the assessment process to enable them to set their own targets and plan how they will achieve their learning goals. Pupils then understand what they have done well and what they need to develop. It is essential that they feel confident about their progress. Black & William identify five elements to assessment for learning


· The provision of effective feedback to pupils


· Active involvement of pupils in their own learning


· Adjusting teaching to take account of the results


· A recognition of the profound influence of assessment on motivation and achievement


· The need for pupils to understand themselves and how to improve.


A few comments on these elements are required. Giving feedback is something that teachers have experience of, particularly in providing non-judgemental, positive criticism to pupils and ideas for improvement or development. Pupils, generally, do not have such experience, so require demonstration and practice in the necessary skills. Short, structured sessions at the end of a group activity could provide such practice. Students could be given a list of things done during the activity and write the name of the person in the group who did each thing. The group could then compare their answers as a way of clarifying who did what in the group and feeding back on the perceptions of participation. Finally, students give a number between 1-10 to signify how well they thought the person did what they did (1 = could do better, 10 = very well). In a subsequent session, the teacher can go down the list of things done and ask the class to suggest ways in which things could be done better, (though the teacher should be ready to provide a choice of alternatives in the likely event that none are forthcoming from the class). Teachers should be wary of assuming that reflection on an activity will lead students to provide better, alternative approaches. In my experience, students are often little aware that there is ‘more than one way to skin a rabbit’. However, the more students become involved in such reflective activities, the more the perception of ‘room for improvement’ is given a chance to evolve within them.


Students need to know where they are in terms of the citizenship skills they have before they can think about assessing their progress. A questionnaire like the one in Appendix D (or Appendix E, which is a part of a project to create an online portfolio ) provides the teacher with a method by which to get students to reflect on their skills and participation. Answering the questionnaire provides students with ready-made goals (that the teacher can help the student to refine) to work towards. If a pupil assesses that, at this moment, she cannot complete a project without help then a future goal for development can be drawn from this assessment. Teachers will need to be ready to assist with SMART target setting to show students that self-assessment can lead to realistic goals by which to measure improvement. Whilst a range of methods is evolving to provide descriptive assessment of students’ achievements, the subject still lacks clearly defined progression through levels of attainment, (as mentioned earlier). There is, thus, no ‘ladder’ of achievement to inform target setting.


Teachers can use the results of pupil self- and peer assessment to modify their lessons, in terms both of content and process. If teachers highlight these modifications, and make explicit the reasons for them, then students may truly feel they have negotiated the terms of their own learning. Current thinking acknowledges that active participation in the processes of learning is the way that students truly learn, “since no one else can do it for them.


Conclusion


Assessment has a major role in citizenship education, not only because schools need to evaluate their provision in light of the statutory entitlement to citizenship, but also because there is a statutory duty to assess and report on students’ attainment at KS and 4. As the subject becomes more embedded in the curriculum, assessment will become part of the process of its delivery. Citizenship practitioners are ideally placed to promote assessment for learning, for it is a manifestation of the ethos of active participation in the learning process.


The subject differs from other National Curriculum subjects in its emphasis on practical, active citizenship and in its flexibility to vary content to suit local circumstances. Both differences have implications for assessment. Replication of assessment methods for other subjects will not suffice to recognize all aspects of citizenship. Seeking parity of status with other subjects will require careful design of appropriate assessment methods to reflect the wide range of desirable activities whilst still demonstrating objectivity and rigour. Most of all, any approach to assessment will fail if it makes unrealistic demands on teacher and student time within an education system more heavily assessed and examined than any other international education system.


Bibliography


S. Cox (00) Assessment in Citizenship Education (Osiris Educational).


R. Dann (00) Promoting Assessment and Learning (Routledge & Falmer).


D.Harris & C.Bell Evaluating and Assessing for Learning (Nichols)


L. Jerome (Autumn 00) ‘Assessing and Reporting Citizenship’ in Teaching Citizenship 4,


pp 8 � 4


J. Lynch (1) Education for Citizenship in a Multicultural Society (Cassel)


OFSTED (00) Inspecting Citizenship (HMSO)


QCA (001) Citizenship A scheme of work for Key Stage (HMSO)


QCA (1) Citizenship The National Curriculum for England (HMSO)


QCA (18) Education for Citizenship and the teaching of democracy in schools (HMSO)


J. Quike (1) A Curriculum for Life (OUP)


R. Sadler (18). ‘Formative assessment in the design of instructional systems.’ Instructional Science 18, pp 11 �144. (Kluwer Academic Publishers)


Online publications


D. Kerr (00) ‘Assessment and Evaluation in Citizenship Education’ (Paper presented at British Council Seminar in Beijing China) http//www.nfer.ac.uk/ (NFER/DFES)


Black & William (18) ‘Inside the Black Box Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment’ http//www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kbla810.htm


Institute for Citizenship (00) ‘Information for Citizenship Co-ordinators’ http//www.citizen.org.uk/education/secondary.html


Learn.co.uk (00) ‘Managing Citizenship’


http//www.learn.co.uk/citizenship/manage.asp


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