Educational Assessment in the 21st Century Connecting Theory and Pra
Even in the white heat of the ever-present education debate, assessment is one of the hottest and most contested topics. While teachers develop practical methodologies such as Assessment for Learning, that aim to bring positive benefits to learners, gover
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Claire Wyatt-Smith · J. Joy Cumming Editor
Educational Assessment in the 21st Century Connecting Theory and Practice
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Editors Prof. Claire Wyatt-Smith Faculty of Education Mt Gravatt Campus Griffith University 176 Messines Ridge Road Mt Gravatt QLD 4122 Australia [email protected]
ISBN: 978-1-4020-9963-2
Prof. J. Joy Cumming Faculty of Education Mt Gravatt Campus Griffith University 176 Messines Ridge Road Mt Gravatt QLD 4122 Australia [email protected]
e-ISBN: 978-1-4020-9964-9
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-9964-9 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2009920277 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.
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Foreword Signs of Change: Assessment Past, Present and Future
Another Time, Another Place . . . Examinations Then and Now In the Temple of Literature in Hanoi, Vietnam, a series of stone stelae records the names of the handful of illustrious examination candidates who, in each century, passed the national examination to become a Doctor of Literature. Beginning in the 11th century, the exams were conducted personally by successive kings who pursued Confucian ideals that found expression in the enormous value placed on the pursuit of wisdom and learning. In the 21st century we are both puzzled and impressed by this tradition. Puzzled by such an explicit commitment to a meritocracy in an essentially feudal society; impressed by this enthusiasm for learning and the pursuit of wisdom at the highest level of society. Yet, there are also important similarities between the 11th and 21st centuries. Then, as now, assessment was associated with excellence, high standards, prestige and competition—success for the chosen few; disappointment for the majority. Then, as now, the pursuit of excellence was embedded in a social context that favoured the elite and determined success in terms of the predilections of the powerful. Then, as now, the purpose of the assessment, the way it was conducted and its impact on society all reflected the social and economic priorities of the day. However, where examinations in the form that we would recognise today existed in pre-modern societies, they were typically of a consistent pattern. They were extremely hierarchical in organisation, in that only a tiny minority could be successful. They were typically oral or written in mode. Their content normally concerned the mastery of designated classical texts, and they were conducted primarily for the purpose of selection. In the 21st century, examinations and other forms o
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