“Assessment is a term that covers any activity in which evidence of learning is collected in
a planned and systematic way, and is used to make a judgment about learning. If the
purpose is to help in decisions about how to advance learning and the judgement is about
the next steps in learning and how to take them, then the assessment is formative in
function. If the purpose is to summarise the learning that had taken place in order to grade,
certificate or record progress, then the assessment is summative in function”. (Harlen and
Deakin Crick 2002 ,p.1)Several barriers to implementing IBSE-oriented assessment have been identified by
practitioners, e.g. lack of time to develop and implement IBSE assessment; high
content requirements in national curriculum; external tests not focused on assessing
inquiry skills and lack of familiarity with formative-assessment tools for IBSE
(SAILS 2013 ). Therefore, to effectively implement change in classroom practice
towards IBSE, the pedagogy of inquiry learning has to align with national curricula
and assessment strategies. Teachers must be well prepared to implement and
understand the benefits of such strategies. If any curricular/pedagogical change is to
be successfully sustained, the three areas of curriculum, assessment and teacher
education need to be considered together. Teachers need to realise that IBSE
pedagogy is both feasible and valued within the curriculum and assessment process
as defined at national level. The consideration of these identified barriers is
important when developing professional development programmes to support
teachers in implementing changes in their pedagogic and assessment practices.
However, addressing these barriers and supporting teachers changing their practices
necessitates collaboration between teachers and teacher educators—so as to provide
opportunities for teachers to trial new approaches and reflect on their experience
with other practitioners.
The SAILS project team (SAILS 2012 ) have adopted the approach that to
successfully change inquiry and assessment practices in the classroom requires
sustained collaboration that is relevant and beneficial to all parties. The project team
has produced a collection of SAILS Inquiry and Assessment Units—which
showcase the benefits of adopting inquiry approaches in classroom practice,
exemplifies how assessment practices are embedded in inquiry lessons and illus-
trates the variety of assessment opportunities/processes available to science teach-
ers. In particular, the SAILS Units provide clear examples for teachers of how
inquiry skills (i.e. developing hypotheses, working collaboratively, forming
coherent arguments and planning investigations) can be assessed, alongside content
knowledge, scientific literacy and scientific reasoning and illustrate the benefits of
various types of assessments. The project team have developed and implemented
Teacher Education Programmes (TEPs) to support teachers in using and assessing
student learning in an inquiry classroom, as exemplified through the SAILS Units.
The approach adopted by this project team and the impact of this approach on
teachers confidence and competence in Inquiry and Assessment will be discussed in
the following sections.
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