The future of assessment starts now (or very soon) Martyn Ware Head of Assessment & QA Graeme Clark Head of Digital Assessment Services

We are committed to a digital future Scottish Government Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy Principles and Guidance on Digital Evidence Digital by Default and SQA Vision Mixed economy of assessment Scalable and sustainable

Improvement focus Assessments must be better Increased engagement by learners and staff Strategic commitment from the wider sector in support of digital approaches Supporting assessment accessibility Technology driving assessment change Increased learner achievement

What does ‘now’ (or very soon) look like? Enhancement, improvement and efficiency Increasing number of digital assessment approaches and content being developed and delivered centrally and locally Significant and visible impact on verification processes Driven by customer demand

Impact on QA Review SQA processes and QA models Principles and Guidance for Digital Evidence Support new evidence formats and models CPD for lecturers and verifiers Evaluate impact and evidence improvement Collaboration and partnership working

Assessment Futures – Purpose and progress

Assessment Futures - Purpose To develop a vision of the ways in which, over the medium to long term (5 years plus), SQA will develop and make use of new and innovative approaches to assessment.

Key question ‘What are the most appropriate ways and contexts for learners to demonstrate their competence in a way that provides SQA with the information it needs to certificate their ability?’

Assessment Futures – Research approach DEFINE Stakeholder expert Group SYNTHESIS DISCOVER External Expert Group Customer engagement Young peoples’ views Environmental Scanning focused general Ad hoc internal comms and feedback Yammer Supplier RESEARCH MSc Data Science Placement TEDx Glasgow

Findings to date - overview No coherent view of future of assessment Focus is on today and tomorrow Growing recognition of the scale of the challenges Appetite to develop long term view Suggestion of need to ‘reconceptualise’ assessment This needs to be a collaborative task Importance of teaching – learning – assessment ‘three legged race’

Key issues for the future of assessment – from TEDx and Expert Group Recognising ‘21st century skills’ to give them currency Importance of collaboration with industry Need for qualifications to be more dynamic Potential to digitise current and future assessments Managing the impact of assessment on learners’ attitudes to learning

Key issues for the future of assessment – from TEDx and Expert Group - 2 Involving young people in the design and development of assessments and assessment systems Involving teachers in assessment judgements in ways that protect the accuracy and credibility of the judgements Rethinking our approach to vocational assessment Potential of data and data analytics

Next steps Review key issues and identify priorities for SQA Scope trials of new approaches based on these priorities Identify partners to support this work

How you can help? Read our Assessment Futures blog Contribute to the discussion @sqafutures Let us know if you see opportunities for collaboration in trialling new approaches

Graeme Clark Martyn Ware Head of Digital Assessment Services @sqasolar Head of Assessment Futures @sqafutures