Dtlls_Curriculum_Development

ASSESSMENTS This assignment will be based on the assessment process conducted at the JGA Group where I am currently employed. It will include the theories and principles of assessment involved in the ILP, diagnostic, formative and summative assessment undertaken at JGA and an evaluation. I will then conclude with my own strengths and areas for development. Established in 1991, The JGA Group provides work-related training, including NVQ’s; careers advice and career development programmes for adults and training plans for individuals and organisations. They were commissioned to provide a 15 week Esol course for E1/E2 learners, for Solace Community Care who provide a home help service in the borough of Wandsworth. This is because, it was felt by the centre manager that the learners needed language development in order to undertake the NVQ level 2 training which is a legal requirement for anyone working in the care field. The course consists of 15 students and is predominately female with there being only 1 male learner in the group. The students have an age range of 25 to 50+ and are of Asian sub continent origin, Indian, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Most of the students except 1 are employed as home helps. The only male student is the co-ordinator for the centre and has completed the PTLLS. The course was in its fifth week, when I took up employment as the tutor therefore was not involved in the initial/diagnostic assessment or the ILP process. There were no ILP’s or copies of the diagnostic assessment for the learners at the start of taking up employment. This was because the ILP’s and diagnostic assessments are not held at Solace community care centre but at the JGA head office and copies were not provided by the previous tutor. I will now discuss the assessment process and ILP’s and the tools used to assess the learner within the JGA group. The initial assessment is the first assessment and determines the level of skills that the learner has. These skills included in the Esol terms are reading, writing, speaking and listening and are used to place learners in appropriate learning programmes. It is a holistic process, during which you start to build up a picture of an individual’s achievements, skills, interests, previous learning experiences and goals and the learning needs associated with those goals. The diagnostic assessment helps to identify specific learning strengths and needs. It determines learning targets and appropriate teaching and learning strategies to achieve them. This is important as many learners have high level skills in some area than in others. Diagnostic assessment initially happens at the beginning of a learning programme and subsequently when the need arises. (http://sfilp.excellencegateway.org.uk/4.2sflguiadance 3.pdfprovision. further reading from handout DTLLS session 14 initial. Diagnostic and formative assessment) The initial/diagnostic assessment process at JGA is a combined assessment on a standard form, set for two different courses ESP/Skill Right. The assessment is conducted at the start of the course programme and held at Solace Community care and is done on an individual bases. The tutor at the time and the project co-ordinator performed the assessment. The tool used is an 11 page paper based document of questions. The first two pages are speaking and listening which develops a picture of the learner’s background, the language the learner speaks, educational history and the use of spoken English in their place of work. The following three pages are the literacy assessment and determine the learners reading and writing skills, this involves six questions. The last stage is the numeracy section which is five pages, with 25 questions. The last page is for the tutor to write the assessment and the action taken. (See appendix A) During the process, the tutor will explain to the learner that they will be taking notes during the interview. The tutor will ask a series of questions to establish speaking and listening skills of the learner using the open questions on the form to encourage speaking. The tutor then writes a comment based on those speaking and listening skills before moving on to the reading and writing section. The numeracy section allows for the learner to answer the first 5 questions. If they have answered all the questions correct they will then move on answering all the questions associated with E2, however if they answer any of the E2 questions wrong they are assessed as E1. They usually get question 11 wrong as the terminology ‘rounding’ is unfamiliar. Unfamiliar words leads to learner’s inaccurate answers this is common with Esol learners who sit the assessment. In the evaluation of the tools used the advantages are that the form has a simple easy to read format and follows a clear structure. It has a good size font and makes good reading both for the tutor and the learner. Although the questions are very basic they do allow for the tutor to expand to obtain more information and encourage speaking skills of the learner. The use of open questions allow for extended answers. The questions are set and linked to the Esol curriculum, which helps decide the oral level of the learner and makes the assessment valid. For example E1 listen and respond to spoken language, including simple narratives, statements, questions and single step instructions. Speak to communicate basic information, feelings and opinions on familiar topics. Included in the assessment is a range of simple, graded text to help decided their level of reading. The diagnostic assessment is formal like a test for the R/W and numeracy part of the assessment. One of the issues is the jargon used in some of the text for example in the numeracy section words like rounding numbers, put a ring round the words. Poor wording of questions leads learners in a wrong direction, causing their assessment to be completed inaccurately. In terms of the principles, the assessment must have validity. This is concerned with whether “we are assessing what we intend to assess” (Fawbert DTLLS handout on assessment session 14) For example if you gave your learners a multiple choice test and you asked questions that relied on knowledge that you had not covered during class, the test would not be valid. The assessment used is assessing for particular skills e.g. S/L and R/W making this valid under face validity. Another issue to assess validity, does the assessment guarantee content, does it cover all the learning outcomes across the course and not in part. Based on the exam taken at the end of the course the content was covered with adequate samples used in the exam. For example the appropriate use of capital letters, sentence structure, signs and symbols and diary entries. Reliability is concerned with whether assessment “methods achieve consistent results with a similar group of learners” (Fawbert DTLLS handout on assessment session 14) this assessment is consistent as it is used for all learners who request the services of JGA. The results would be the same if they were done with learners of a similar level. Finally equality, this is concerned with making sure that the conditions under which we set an assessment activity do not exclude some groups. This involves checking that the assessment activity is appropriate in terms of background knowledge to approach the task. (Hillier, 2002. Taken from DTLLS handout on assessment session 14). It could be said, that the Esol learners participating in the assessment are at a disadvantage in terms of context and the type of language used which is unfamiliar to them. For example question 5 in the literacy section, silver Renault Clio if a learner has no concept of the language related to identify a make and model of a car, this would mean nothing to them. Pictures could be used for E1 learners, however in saying this; the form is universal and is used to assess all learners from E1 to L1. The ILP’s were done at Solace Community care centre and based on the information obtained on the diagnostic assessment. The information is transferred onto the ILP with a summary of the diagnostic assessment. A signed copy is given to the learner and another copy is held in the learners file at JGA head office. The ILP is reviewed 7 weeks into the course and at the end of the course. Any adjustments are made during that time. ILP is a four page paper based document completed by the tutor, the project co-ordinator and the learner. The first two pages and last page are relevant to the Esol learner of which to base the learning targets. The second page is the skill for life page and includes Esol learning targets, which include needs, targets and target date. These targets are agreed by the learner and are SMART. The learner is involved in the ILP process on how the targets will be reached. (See Appendix B) In evaluating the ILP one of the advantages is that the form has an easy to follow structure, which allows for the information from the diagnostic to be put on the form easily. The outcome of the diagnostic assessment helps to complete the needs and targets for the learner on the skills for life page. On the skills for life page, the Esol learning arrangements section allows for the tutor to write how these needs will be met, and what the learner may need to do for this learning aim to be achieved these are then reviewed in 7 weeks to determine if any progress has been made. Poor ILP’s lead to unclear targets and weak reviews, I feel that 7 week reviews are too long especially as I started 5 weeks into the course. There should a 3 weekly review process which would allow for more realistic targets to be set and more achievable. The process for completing the initial assessment can be done without the learner, who will agree the targets at a later date and sign the form. The ILP allows for the tutor to prepare and plan lessons with differentiation to meet the needs of the learner. For example learner A to improve spelling, for each session new words would be given for the learner to practice as home work and spelling techniques incorporated in a session. Formative assessment Formative assessment is an ongoing process, of assessment. It has the advantage of being an ideal opportunity to tell the learner how they are progressing and giving them the chance to improve. This type of assessment is very motivational because it is seen as a review rather than an assessment. The only disadvantage that a formative assessment has is that it may feel like continual assessment. Kolb’s learning cycle advocates the concept of formative assessment and feedback within the cycle, indicating their value in personal development and progression. Formative assessment therefore aids learning. (Practical teaching a guide to PTLLS and DTLLS by Linda Wilson page 273) Using formative assessment in my own practice was a way of assessing that learning was taking place and those learners were encouraged by the feedback given during and after activities. One feedback method used was to assess writing skills. The learners were to write simple sentences, I observed the learners use of word order and knowledge of basic punctuation with the use of full stops and capital letters at the beginning of sentences. In marking and giving feedback I focused on the sentence structure and not common spelling mistakes. The reason being is that the aim of the session was to assess the student’s ability to write a simple sentence as part of the learning aim towards the exam. The spelling mistakes were discussed and used for a separate lesson. The feedback is written in red pen and commented at the bottom of the page. For example ‘well done, lovely writing I note the use of to in statements “I went to shopping on Saturday”. This ensured clarity and enabled the learner to separate my writing from their own. They were also able to see their mistakes. (See Appendix C) When giving feedback on what the learners have done well and what they need to improve on, I write at the bottom of the page “well done on the use of capital letters and full stops”. If this is a concern I will also inform the learner what they need to improve on. For example learners will be in formed to remember capital letters for the start of a sentence, person, place and days of the week. If this is a common mistake among the class then I will use this as a topic for the next session. When giving work back to learners, I do this individually to verbally feedback to the learners and explain my comments. One of the ways for the learners to improve this would be the use of home work using jumbled sentences for the learner to correct using full stops and capital letters. (See Appendix C 1) Another assessment method is to have the learners read out their piece of writing to the whole group for a peer assessment. This works really well as it allows learners to support each other and increase self esteem and confidence. It is also a way of sharing ideas and opinions. This is an informal strategy and also aids learning in that if the learner has not quite understand the mistake this may be expressed better by fellow students. Students often present their work to the group discussion for peer assessment which is based on learning from each other. When assessing a speaking and listening skills, learners are placed into pairs and given about five pictures of animals such as an elephant, cat, tiger, snake and a fish. One learner takes a picture and using prompt cards they describe the picture using adjectives without saying what it is. Their partner has to guess what it is, they then swop. During monitoring of the activity I am able to assess correct word order, lexical skills and grammar. Verbal feedback is given straight away using praise and ideas to lengthen and encourage speech. Correction is used at the end of the activity when I write down on the flip chart incorrect discourse or word order for group discussion. The reason for my choice is that speaking activities often encourage free speech without restrictions. Formative assessment is far easier to adjust for assessment purposes because it is developed by the teacher. This allows activities to be prepared and adjusted for inclusivity allowing it to be valid. Summative assessment This assessment is associated with tests, exams or assignments. It aids the assessment of learning and is quite formal. The exam used for this group is the OCR entry level certificate in Adults literacy unit 1 speaking and listening (entry 1) and unit 2 reading and writing (entry 1). The first part of the exam is listening, the idea is for learners to listen to instruction for the gist, and then carry out the instructions. The second part is for learners speaking skills to be assessed, they are given 3 different scenarios to be assessed on. They then undertake the reading and writing sections, here they read for information, recognise signs and symbols recognise upper and lowercase letters and write their name and address using capital letters in the correct place. (See Appendix D) There was a mock exam taken two weeks before the actual exam to assess and evaluate the learner’s progress. The process for conducting the exam was to do speaking and listening first. Unfortunately as I was delivering the exam by myself with 15 students, the reading and writing section was done first then the last 2 hours was spent on speaking and listening. This was because the speaking and listening needed to be done individually and the learners agreed to leave once they completed the section. These results are fed back to the skills funding agency to show what progress is taking place. All students passed the exam and will be given a certificate at a later date. Should learners not pass all the sections they will be given a certificate for what they did pass. For example, if a learner passes the reading and writing, they will have a certificate for the reading and writing only. Had some students not passed, they would not of have had the opportunity to re-sit because the course was at the end of the contact. In another situation they would be able to re-do the assessment. At the end of the course the students were given a feedback sheet for the learners’ evaluation of the course. The result of this is included in the SOW for future sessions for example if the result of the evaluation expressed that the learners would have liked more grammar sessions then this would added to the scheme of work as a topic area. (See Appendix E) One of the disadvantages is that learners who were E1 in reading but passed the exams do not get the chance for a follow on course because of funding. There was not an extension to the course. In terms of principles the assessment must be valid, did the summative assess what it was suppose to assess' Here the OCR exam used did, all areas of the course were covered, and questions were appropriate and relevant to the course making it valid. Was the exam reliable' In practice, reliability is enhanced by making the assessment instructions absolutely clear. Reliability also depends on the people who mark...... clearly an assessment is unreliable if the results depend to any large extent on who is marking it. (Harmer, 2001 taken from DTLLS handout session 14 assessments) The assessment instructions for me to carry out the exam were very clear and well structured. Strengths and areas for development One of my strengths is the ability to assess, monitor and observe students during sessions. I have the ability to give positive feedback during and after activities. The principle behind this is that I will always assess the learning achieved in the session and give feedback designed to progress the learners after activities. This principle is effective using the behaviourist thinking. This is because the repetition of the task will consistently apply, therefore learners will wait (and expect) the feedback and ultimately will work better at the merest hint of feedback from the teachers, or because they will know if they do work hard they will gain their reward of feedback. (Practical teaching a guide to PTLL and DTLLS by Linda Wilson page 353) An example of this would be to ask learners for their feedback after an activity to determine what they felt about the task, provide a short questionnaire or quiz for learners to assess learning had taken place. By giving praise at the end of each activity to the group as a whole stating how well they did the task allows them to progress. In developing this strength I will also allow time at the end of the session to consolidate what has been achieved, this is effective using cognitive thinking. This is because the act of consolidating the lesson enables the thinking process to kick in. It enables learners to decide where they are going to use or store this information for later. The areas for development is lack of experience, I need to develop my understanding of the assessment process by having practical experience. I have therefore arranged with my employer to sit in on the next assessment process due to take place in a week’s time. Another development area will be to read more on the subject area of ILP’s and allow myself to witness one being prepared by shadowing another more experienced employee. The last area for development is to develop literacy and language skills to develop my understanding of the theory behind the assessment process, by reading to gain knowledge, write more fluently, accurately and legibly on a range of topic in association to the course, understand and use the conventions of grammar and select appropriate format and style of writing for the reader. This will ensure the minimum core standards in literacy are being met and enable me to develop my writing skills and produce better clearer assignments.