Australia Council for the Arts

Assessment is commonly understood as the process of judging how well students have learnt what they have been taught. It comes at the end of a sequence that begins with a curriculum or course syllabus. Teachers are expected to deliver this body of specified content, students are expected to learn it, and assessment is the process of judging and grading students on how well they have learnt what teachers have taught. This is a common view of assessment among students, parents and many teachers. I will argue in this presentation that this traditional understanding of what it means to learn successfully is no longer serving us well. It results in many less advanced students falling further behind in their learning, being written off as poor learners, and eventually disengaging from school. It also fails to challenge and extend some of our most advanced students, resulting in less progress than they are capable of making. The alternative is to use assessment to monitor learning – that is, to establish and understand where learners are in their long-term learning progress; to evaluate growth over time; and to provide teachers, students, parents, school leaders, system managers and governments with quality information to promote further learning. Shifting the focus from judging and grading to monitoring would be a significant change in assessment practice with the potential to better support successful learning.

Evidence-based decision-making is regarded as an important indicator of quality in schools around the world. Using data gathered from assessments, in conjunction with other insights, can help school leaders and teachers better meet the needs of learners. In schools that cater to disadvantaged learners, using data to design targeted interventions plays an important role in improving equity. In this paper we report on a study with five schools in Scotland. All schools had learner cohorts characterised by multiple layers of disadvantage. Informed by the theoretical underpinnings of sensemaking theory, we investigated how teachers and school leaders used data from the Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSA). Our findings suggest that teachers and leaders are adept at combining assessment data with other insights – including their own observations. All schools were active in using data to inform decision-making, both at the whole-school level and at the classroom level. They reported multiple uses of data, from validating their own instincts to targeting support to particular cohorts of learners. We suggest that the way in which SNSA is designed – explicitly providing data to teachers to help inform their professional judgement – is a factor in the positive approach to data usage among these schools.

Abstract This longitudinal study examines the relationship between young people's creative and performing arts participation (e.g., in dance, drama, film, music, visual arts) and their arts self‐concept. Drawing on the positive youth development (PYD) framework and the reciprocal effects model (REM) of self‐concept, a cross‐lagged panel design is implemented to explore the connections between arts self‐concept and each of school (e.g., school‐based arts instruction), home (e.g., parent–child arts interaction), and community (e.g., out‐of‐school arts instruction) creative and performing arts participation. The study drew on an Australian sample of 643 elementary and high school students from 15 schools. Analyses showed that beyond the effects of socio‐demographics and prior achievement, there are longitudinal associations (including reciprocal effects) between numerous forms of creative and performing arts participation and arts self‐concept. Implications are discussed.

Development of the corporate public affairs management function in Asia over the past three decades has occurred in three waves, from one with a focus on basic public relations, market access and product regulation, to a sophisticated management function that is central to how the corporation interacts with and seeks to influence the socio‐political environment in which it operates. If this new millennium is indeed the ‘Asian Century’, the public affairs function will become more valuable to companies trading in Asia. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The ethic of community participation is dominated by the ideal of the self-governing community of reflective citizens. This article suggests the need to focus on some of the more down-to-earth ethical attributes of a responsible participant that tend to be overshadowed by that ideal. The authors look at the disciplinary, rhetorical, and role-specific demands of participatory styles of governance. Implications of this perspective are drawn out in an examination of how the challenges of community participation are or might be played out in an arts policy field that is currently under the sway of neoliberal approaches to government and anti-elitist political challenges to the arts.

Medical Journal of AustraliaVolume 149, Issue 84 p. 2-2 Letter Disquiet ‘ill-informed‘ Brian Collopy, Brian Collopy Chairman Australian Council on Healthcare Standards, Level 1, 7-9A Joynton Avenue, Zetland, NSW, 2017Search for more papers by this authorDavid Darby, David Darby Executive Director Australian Council on Healthcare Standards, Level 1, 7-9A Joynton Avenue, Zetland, NSW, 2017Search for more papers by this author Brian Collopy, Brian Collopy Chairman Australian Council on Healthcare Standards, Level 1, 7-9A Joynton Avenue, Zetland, NSW, 2017Search for more papers by this authorDavid Darby, David Darby Executive Director Australian Council on Healthcare Standards, Level 1, 7-9A Joynton Avenue, Zetland, NSW, 2017Search for more papers by this author First published: 01 August 1988 https://doi.org/10.5694/j.1326-5377.1988.tb120878.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume149, Issue84August 1988Pages 2-2 RelatedInformation