Educational Achievement. What is it..? How is it measured.?!

Black-Hawkins, K., Florian, L., & Rouse, M. (2007) Thinking about achievement, inclusion and the use of evidence (chapter 1, pp 1-12), Achievement and Inclusion in Schools. London: Routledge.

(Response to Una Carroll's reading of the text)

Thanks Una, really enjoyed reading your response! I’d like to see educational achievement being measured by all five areas listed in the text; academic, social, emotional, creative, physical. Thinking back to our discussion today, Nicola Sturgeon is talking about introducing the National Developing Framework to measure more accurately the achievements/lack of achievements. If there was a framework designed to incorporate the five educational achievements listed in the text, that may give a fairer and more in depth analysis of educational achievement, which falls into place with the curriculum for excellence. Like you have said Una, these five achievements, and possibly others- e.g. problem solving, motivation to learn etc., would be things that I would also consider and influence my teaching methods in the classroom.

I agree skills should be assessed on an individual basis – so as to accommodate and benefit a child’s development.

Again I agree, peer comparisons occur naturally within classrooms and schools. For a teacher to highlight these differences is unhelpful. I wouldn’t want my math skills to be compared with a professional mathematician of my age, and it wouldn’t make sense to compare the two. Individual achievements and developments should be the focus. I remember Paul said today in our discussion group that he likes some forms of competitiveness, I agree, competition between peers can encourage and motivate learners, but is not right for everyone, and may contradict inclusive practice. Primary school children should not be driven to meet governmental quotas, they should be encourage to be motivated learners.

We had a great discussion today centred on achievements and social backgrounds. Again Una I agree, we certainly must not make judgements on children, this would be detrimental to the individual and may well ‘kick-start a self-fulfilling prophecy’. However, this is a challenge when considering behaviour management. Children who show continuous low-level disruption within a classroom test the teacher’s approach to that child. Teachers may find themselves ‘stuck’ in behavioural management techniques that are effective in the short term, but not the long term. (I’m thinking about my placement school here, and the challenges ahead!!) It’s so important to break those attitudes towards children who are ‘known’ to be disruptive.

I really like your questions regarding equal educational opportunities for all students: ‘How do we ensure that we are doing this? How can we fully measure inclusion in an education setting?’ It’s certainly a challenge. Anyone else care to share their thoughts?!

To conclude, I believe that educational achievement should be twofold. Firstly it should be based on the expected age-related achievements, i.e. what we expect a child aged seven should be achieving over a wide range of areas; academic, social, emotional, creative etc. (some of you may disagree with me?) Secondly, and most importantly, it should take into account individuals and individual achievement. These two points must work together in order to measure educational achievement, and be underpinned by inclusive practice. How can this be transferred into a workable format for government to use as an effective means to measure achievement and make improvements nationally? Not sure about that. Perhaps it is possible, but there’s no quick fix.

Thinking back to our discussion today- how do we uphold expectations of educational achievement, when something as fundamental as a child’s upbringing contradicts schooling and education? We set educational achievements with the knowledge that these will not be achieved by every student at every stage. Individual assessment and inclusive practice are key to the development of the learner. My aim is to be a teacher who enables children to become self-motivated learners for life.

Cami Carter

28/09/15

quack.