Assessment and Benchmarking in RE

A New Approach

STAFF INSET Wednesday, 25th February 2015

Why?◦ To let pupils know what they are doing and what they must do

next to progress What?

◦ Pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding of religious and philosophical worldviews, based on the LDBS Scheme of Work.

How?◦ Pupils need feedback that is built into the learning process

(‘assessment for learning’) as well as through more formal tests, examinations or set assessment tasks (‘assessment of learning’).

◦ Formal assessment should be built-in at the end of a unit or term (1-2 assessment tasks per term).

The Purpose of Assessment In RE

Source: http://www.reonline.org.uk/assessing/why/

The ChallengeHow do we

assess personal

development and

‘spirituality’?

LDBS has created a series of I CAN statements based on the non-statutory QCA 8-Level Scale for RE (2000)

This progressive scale is split into two attainment targets:

◦ ATTAINMENT TARGET 1: LEARNING ABOUT RELIGION Recall, retell, describe and compare the practices, rituals and beliefs of the major

World Religions

◦ ATTAINMENT TARGET 2: LEARNING FROM RELIGION Reflect, respond, make links and apply ideas from what they have learned

about religion and belief to their own lives and experiences

The LDBS Approach

The 8-level scale of development for RE

TASK ONE

Can you put the ladder of skills for RE in order of sophistication?

Primary

Secondary

The 8-level scale of development for RE

Primary

Secondary

Factual knowledge Drama (role play, hot-seating) Art (designing posters, banners, artefacts) Writing (poetry, stories, reflections,

questions, lists, letters, diaries) Discussion / pupil conferencing Circle time Pupil responses to visits and visitors

How to Assess

AT1 AT2

TASK TWO: Use the skills set to assess a pupil’s work

Note :Pupils in Primary School are not expected to attain higher than Level 5 Sub-levels not required when assessing pupil attainment

Read the level statements in the framework as a whole to get a sense of the ‘three-ness’ or ‘five-ness’ of a child’s RE skills.

Some pieces of work may be hard to fit into a level statement. Give credit where it is due.

Don’t use sub-levels! Some aspects of RE are not easy to assess (e.g. a

child’s spirituality). Assess what is communicated – look for evidence in their oral and artistic as well as written responses.

Involve pupils in the assessment of their own learning. Share the learning objectives and demonstrate how they can succeed and make progress.

RE Online gives this advice

Use the revised Benchmarking sheet to assess where your pupils were at the start of the school year (October), where they are currently (February) and where you think they might be at the end of the year (July).

Follow the same benchmarking process as Maths, English and Science.

Complete before the end of this term.

TASK THREE: For Homework

Thank you!