| Section 5
ASSESSMENT AND RECORDING
Introduction
The Scottish Office Education Department's guidelines Assessment
5-14 give schools advice on how to review and develop their
assessment policies for all areas of the curriculum. The ways in
which primary and secondary schools assess their pupils' progress
in religious and moral education should be consistent with that
general guidance. The present section deals specifically and briefly
with points related to assessment in Religious and Moral Education.
Basic points about assessing religious and moral
education
Assessment is a necessary part of the teaching and learning process.
If work is planned with particular objectives in mind, it is necessary
to assess how far those objectives have been achieved. The sequence
of planning, teaching, recording, reporting and evaluating, is as
important in religious and moral education as in any other area
of the curriculum. There are, however, particular features of religious
and moral education which make it important to distinguish between
what to assess and what not to assess.
Knowledge and understanding of the various strands in Christianity
and Other World Religions can be assessed by all the normal
means which teachers use. So too can the elements of knowledge
and understanding in Personal Search, such as awareness
of pattern and order in the natural world, or understanding the
difference between rules and principles. Religious and Moral Education
also involves skills which are capable of assessment: the skills
of investigating and evaluating have been highlighted previously.
Certain attitudes may also be assessed, although not on a progressive
scale of levels A to E. There is no point in setting out to foster
positive attitudes of respect and tolerance unless there is some
way of checking whether these attitudes are indeed being fostered.
However, because religious and moral issues are often controversial
and involve personal decision and commitment, it would be quite
wrong to assess the personal stances of pupils in relation to
such matters. Thus a pupil's view in relation to a moral dilemma
should not be assessed as right or wrong, although the process
of arriving at that view (considering both sides of the argument,
giving reasons for opinions, etc) may be assessed. Similarly,
the answers a pupil may give to ultimate questions about God or
the purpose of life should not be assessed; but the insights and
skills shown in the process of considering such questions may
be. It is particularly important in contexts where a prime aim
of Religious and Moral Education is faith development in accordance
with the wishes of parents; to distinguish between what may and
may not be assessed and to inform parents clearly about this.
Methods of assessment
Assessment in religious and moral education is likely to take two
main forms: ongoing assessment of pupils' day-to-day work; and periodic
special assessment tasks such as end of unit tests. Included in
the former would be the regular monitoring of written work, other
forms of expressive activity such as art work or role play, and
participation in group or class discussion. Since much of the work
in this area is likely to be oral, it will be important for teachers
to develop the technique of noting and recording the knowledge,
understanding and skills which pupils' oral contributions reveal.
End of unit tests with older pupils can themselves reinforce knowledge
and understanding: in other words, they are a teaching tool as well
as an assessment tool, and give the teacher valuable feedback about
whether planned objectives have been met. They can take a variety
of forms, such as short answer questions, matching and sequencing
exercises and so on. |