Principles of Musical Assessment An Inspire Event for Teach Through Music 25 th November 2014 Professor MarCn Fautley Dr. Alison Daubney What is It used to be this, is it scll? Progression in KS3 Class Music? What is the role of assessment in supporcng progression? Secondary Strategy: DfES (2006) Assessment data conundrum in music What is Progression in KS3 Class Music? What is the role of assessment in supporcng progression? 1
A quescon for you What do you value in a musical educacon? How did we get to where we are now? Assessment as Grading Assessment levels Originally intended only for use once, at end of key stage i.e. in lower secondary school at age 14 Levels and Sublevels Were only designed original to be used once, at the end of a key stage. This caused problems for music teachers. Were (last year) almost ubiquitous. What is their status now? Many teachers contact us with problems and issues regarding this aspect of their work Especially the issue of proof (more later...) Have you ever been challenged to share work to prove your judgments? Ofsted said in October 2012: Music teaching is inadequate when: Arbitrary grades are given for work, which are unrelated to naconal grade/level criteria or based on manufactured sub- divisions of these levels. h`p://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/generic- grade- descriptors- and- supplementary- subject- specific- guidance- for- inspectors- making- judgemen Earlier this year using levels and sub levels to try to prove pupils ongoing progress in music doesn t work, as Ofsted has pointed out many Cmes. It is usually superficial, Cme wascng and neither reliable nor valid. It is most certainly not any kind of Ofsted requirement. To be absolutely clear, our inspectors do not expect to see it. There are no, and never were, sub levels in music anyway, for good reason. Robin Hammerton (HMI Music) 16/6/14 h`p://community.tes.co.uk/ofsted_resources/b/weblog/archive/2014/06/16/music- in- schools- where- words- finish- music- begins.aspx 2
What about this statement? QuesCon: A grade is an inadequate report of an inaccurate judgment by a biased and variable judge of the extent to which a student has a`ained an undefined level of mastery of an unknown proporcon of an indefinite amount of material (Dressell, 1976. p2) (Dressel, P. 1976 Grades: one more Llt at the windmill Memphis State University, Center for the Study of Higher EducaLon, BulleLn. Memphis, TN) Fautley 2010 Aims What is there that can progress in NaConal Curriculum music? Assessment and Progression The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils: perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations. Attainment targets AcCvity QuesCon: What progresses in musical progression during the course of KS3 music lessons? Using formacve strategies What range of strategies have you used: to generate talk, discussion and quescons? to check understanding / awareness? to highlight misconcepcons? to find out what pupils think? to provoke refleccon? to scaffold, promote and challenge musical learning? 3
Your role How much Cme do you spend in an average lesson being a musician in the classroom? How does this link to the quescons on the previous slides about promocng progression? AcCvity Using the schemes of work (or whatever your school calls them!) that you have brought with you Discuss: How progression is evidenced in the SoW? Specifically what aspect(s) of musical learning? (List) How a`ainment is assessed in the SoW? How progression is assessed during the SoW? Then return and report back. What about Progression in quality of music made? What does this mean? How is it defined? Whose music? Meta proof problem Knowing progression has occurred Proving progression has occurred Proving that you ve proved progression has occurred www.edmodo.com But. Ofsted won't be bothered about all of that when they visit us, as they will want to see consistency across the school. (personal communicacon from teacher) QuesCons Does consistency mean doing things idenccally? DifferenCaCon in teaching and learning doesn t mean doing the same thing for everyone Why do schools recommend this for teaching, but not for subjects? 4
26/11/14 Reclaiming Assessment I Assessment in music in music should musical Assessment in maths should be mathemaccal, geography, geographical (etc.) Assessment can be coherent, it doesn t need to be consistent A`ainment and Progress How can assessments measuring a`ainment be used to demonstrate progress? Are separate measures needed? Are overarching curriculum goals the starcng point for progression measurement? QuesCon: What do these words mean? Assessment words and their meanings Set 1: o Assessment o EvaluaCon o Measurement o Grading Set 3: o Progress o Progression o Development Set 2: o A`ainment o Achievement Maybe it s Cme to revisit AR&R AR&R: o Assessment o Recording o ReporCng 5
Assessing a`ainment What can be done about it? Maybe should be criterion referenced Criteria wri`en specifically for the musical task/project/accvity being undertaken Different criteria needed for each task/ project/accvity being undertaken Criteria need to be uniquely defined, and have a scalable measure Recent work Possible Grading Criteria Three levels of a`ainment: - / = / + Working Towards Working At Working Beyond Or: Can achieve with some help Can achieve Can achieve well Or other variants! More info at www.ism.org/ naconalcurriculum Example Assessment Criterion: Pupil composed piece demonstrates effeccve use of dynamics: - piece does not show effeccve use of dynamics = piece shows effeccve use of dynamics + piece shows very effeccve use of dynamics NB you do not always need to write down the wordings, +/=/- will osen be sufficient Assessment grids Specific to each project, apply only to that project Source: h`p://drfautley.wordpress.com 6
26/11/14 Charts Kolb: Kite chart Circular Graph Paper Group Work Musical Bridges transicon tracker Appraising Performing 5 4 3 2 1 0 Composing Listening CollecCng pupil thoughts in useful and evidenced ways How do you bring in a pupil s whole musical life? One of my Masters students (a HoM) wrote: I set out to create the ulcmate curriculum design in terms of a fixed sequence of lessons to best promote musical progress and development. (12 months and 20,000 words later:) the realisacon this is not only an impossible dream but likely [to be] restriccve to the progress and development of individuals 7
Big quescons: Do you know what you value in music educacon? If you don t value it, do you not teach it? What is the purpose of music in KS3 in your school? (How) does it link to what came before and the mulcple opcons post KS3? Have you worked out your priorices for music educacon in the Cme available? (e.g. 15 30 hours per year) Is your curriculum coherent? Is it a Cook s Tour of cultures, styles and genres, tradicons, and the great composers? How does your curriculum in and of itself evidence progression? Do you start from planned learning, and work back to curriculum? Is curriculum planning undertaken holisccally or atomisccally? How do you plan your curriculum? This? Or this? Assessment Arises from planning Does the planning impose a ceiling on the learning? Is progression delineated in planning? Is assessment specific to the task in hand? Reclaiming Assessment II Validity: Assessment for musical learning in, with, and through musical a`ainment Assessment in music needs to be owned by the music department and the pupils Progress needs to be really carefully thought about Learning programmes need to be constructed carefully too Knowing what you know now Return to your unit of work. How will you develop the definicon of the learning you are seeking? How will you develop the way in which learning is planned and organised? How will you develop the role of genuinely musical assessment to use it in ways which promote your and your pupils learning? How will you evidence this in ways which are ethical and musical? 8
Cme for some blue sky thinking in relacon to planning, teaching and assessing music educacon Contact Details Professor MarCn Fautley MarCn.fautley@bcu.ac.uk @DrFautley h`p://drfautley.wordpress.com Dr. Ally Daubney A.daubney@sussex.ac.uk @AllyDaubney Framework Document www.ism.org/naconalcurriculum 9