| Section 6
ASSESSMENT, RECORDING AND REPORTING
Assessment
The call for assessment is rooted in the desire and need to provide
coherent, constructive information to pupils, parents and teachers
so that the on-going process of education is continually enhanced.
Schools are familiar with the S.O.E.D. guidelines Assessment
5-14, where advice is given on how to review and develop assessment
policies for all areas of the curriculum. The ways in which Catholic
primary and secondary schools assess their pupils' progress in
Religious Education should be consistent with those guidelines.
This section deals specifically with assessment in Religious Education
in Catholic schools.
The sequence of planning, teaching, recording,
reporting and evaluating is as important in Religious Education
as in any other area of the curriculum. There are,
however, particular features of Religious Education, which make
it important to distinguish between what to assess and what not
to assess. Knowledge and understanding of the targets in Christianity
and other World Religions can be assessed by the normal means
which teachers use. So too can the elements of knowledge and understanding
in Personal Search. As in other curricular areas, Religious Education
also involves skills which are capable of assessment, e.g.
investigation and evaluation.
Since attitudes, beliefs and moral stances are areas of personal
and private concern to the individual, assessment of these is
inappropriate in Religious Education in Catholic schools. Nevertheless,
it must be remembered that the fostering of Christian attitudes
is at the heart of the mission of the Catholic school and at the
core of the Religious Education programme.
Methods of assessment
Assessment in Religious Education is likely to take two
main forms; on-going assessment of pupils' day-to-day work; and
periodic special assessment tasks such as end-of-unit tests.
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Included in on-going
assessment 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 discussions. 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. |
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End-of-unit tests
can themselves reinforce knowledge and understanding: in other
words, they are a teaching tool as well as an assessment tool.
They can take a variety of forms, such as short answer questions,
matching and sequencing exercises. |
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