Student Learning Profile for the New Senior Secondary Curriculum Stephen Yip EMB St Stephen’s Girls School

Subject-specific portfolio Integrated portfolio for ‘whole personal development’ Student Learning Profile

Records of Achievement (Portfolio of Learning) Records of Reflection and Learning (Portfolio for Learning) A Record of “Personalized Learning Planning process” (Portfolio as Learning) Aims of Student Learning Profile

“Assessment is for Learning” Three Strands Curriculum Learning & Teaching Assessment ASSESSMENT AS LEARNING Personal learning planning ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING Local Moderation Sharing the standard ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING Formative Assessment

Whole person development (Watkins C 2000; Csikszentmihalyi 1997) “Whole” ?  德、智、體、羣、美 The Five Chinese traditional virtues [ moral, intellect, physique, social and aesthetics]  德、智、體、羣、美 + X1 +X2 … “Personal Development”? Metaphors  ‘ Growth’maturation  ‘Journey’pathway  ‘Stages’segments  ‘Preparing for adult life’settle down  ‘Finding a right career’ life transition

Whole person development (Watkins C 2000; Csikszentmihalyi 1997) “The issues and dilemmas I face now at 60 are fundamentally the same as the ones that I experienced at 16 – but the complexity is probably different.” (A Headteacher in England) ‘Growing up is a function of complexity’ Personal Development Coping with Complexity ~~ Integration & Differentiation Watkins C (2000) Now Just Compose Yourself, Watkins, Lodge, Best (ed) Tomorrow Schools – Towards Integrity, Routledge Falmer: London Csikszentmihalyhi (1997) The Evolving Self,: A Psychology of the Third Millenium, New York: Harper Collins

Four Big Concepts related to the design of a SLP Developing Reflective Habits of Mind Audience specificity- Importance of mediators Managing Complexity: A gateway to Life- long Learning Valuing Multiplicity of human interests and talents

(1)Developing Reflective Habits of Mind (Costa & Kallick, 2000; Perkins D. 1995) 16 habits of minds Reflective habits of mind; Listening to… –‘Internal voice’ on personal ‘self-knowledge’ –‘External voice’ of others’ feedbacks –+ recording personal reflection. Idea of ‘growth-folio’ or ‘porcess-folio’ to help students ‘crystallizing experiences’ (Gardner H 1983) Meaning making – not consumers, but constructors

Developing Reflective Habits of Mind As ‘Self-regulated learner’ to reflect in a more holistic manner ( Zimmerman 1996; Feuerstein et al 1980) ‘Episodic grasp of reality’ – SLP would help connecting own learning experiences via construct meaning … Costa & Kallick (2000) Assessing and Reporting on Habits of Mind, The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, USA Zimmerman (1996) Developing Self-regulated Learners, The American Psychological Association Feuerstein et al (1980) Instrumental Enrichment: An intervention program for cognitive modifiability, Baltimore, MD: University Park Press

(2) Audience specificity – Private/ Public aspects of learning ‘Reflect privately’ and ‘evaluate publicly’ may not be necessarily the same in terms of content, priority, contexts. For ‘high stakes’ purpose only: Reflecting for future employers & Universities For ‘low stakes’ purpose only: for myself, formative assessment, self-improvement, planning… A ‘hybrid’ –dual purposes – with a mediator to help them reflect truly and facilitate to tell their own story to the public. Lack of Learning Lack of Sustainability

(3) Managing Complexity: A Whole Person Pathway Growing up -‘A Function of increasing complexity’ (esp. Senior Secondary levels) Start to have ‘hands-on practice’ in planning about their life – using SLP. –Being flexible –Capacities to constructing hope –Pathologies of the future (e.g. denying, ignoring, narrowing, over-planning) Composing their learning life – life-long learning capacities Karniol & Ross (1996) The motivational impact of temporal focus-thinking about the future and the past, Annual Review of Psychology, 47: Axelrod (199) The Evolution of Co-operation, London: Penguin

(4) Valuing Multiplicity of human interests and talents Howard Gardner’s MI (8 & I/2 intelligences) Recognition But need to avoid falling into the ‘over- assessment trap’ (Bentley 1998; Lazear 1999) Bentley T (1998) Learning Beyond the Classroom, DEMOS: London Lazear (1999) Multiple Intelligence Approaches to Assessment, Zephyr Press: USA

Profile System with the Four Key Concepts : Personal, Social, Wholeness & Multiplicity Student Learning Profile (A system with Formative purposes) PersonalSocial Wholeness Multiplicity Developing a Reflective Habit of Mind Audience – specificity: Learning through Mediators Managing Complexity: Gateway for Life-long Learning Valuing Other Learning Experiences: MI

Global Trends related to SLP: Examples US Minnesota e-folio for every citizens DfES’s Progress File (England) Ontario Student Record (Canada) /curricul/osr/osr.html Wales, London Islington… Life-long learning Formative Student-owned

Current Practices in Student Learning Profile (SLP) Student-led record-oriented Teacher-driven record-oriented Student-led, reflection- oriented Teacher-driven reflection- oriented Student Learning Profile Reflection- oriented Teacher- driven Record- oriented Student-led Electronic version

Reflection- oriented Student-led Teacher-led NRA (UK) Web SAMs-related systems(HK) Record- oriented SLP (NSS) ? Progress File (UK) Global Trends: UK, HK, US Minnesota, Canada… Minnesota e-folio Ontario student record

Coherent with BECG….. All schools should review their current assessment practices and put more emphasis on assessment for learning. The latter is a process in which teachers seek to identify and diagnose student learning problems, and provide quality feedback for students on how to improve their work. Different modes of assessment are to be used whenever appropriate for a more comprehensive understanding of student learning in various aspects. (BECG, 2002)

Formative Assessment Vs Summative Assessment

Abuse of Reflection Depth of Reflection Dispositions for reflection Incentive of Reflection Culture of Reflection Tool for Reflection Reflection: Student Learning Profile

“ The dialogue between pupils and a teacher should be thoughtful, reflective, focused to evoke and explore understanding, and conducted so that all pupils have an opportunity to think and to express their ideas” (Dylan and Black, 1998) Reflection: Student Learning Profile

Strategies: Wise use of ‘Sentence stem’,, e.g. ‘I choose this activities because,… e.g. I chose X activity but not Y activity because… e.g. I could improve … via… e.g. … surprised me during learning X e.g. If I were the teacher, I would organise this programme in ….. Approach e.g. Please think through your ways of doing this task; how different from your friends… Reflection: Student Learning Profile Reflection without abusing the word ‘reflection’

Research found that students do not have problem making appropriate judgments when ask to self-assess; mostly reliable & trustworthy; taking the task seriously & give honest interpretation of their work (Dylan and Black, 1998) However, students have difficulty to understand what is required of them. Therefore, sharing criteria, framework, requirements and clear learning objectives and goals are very very important Using authentic exemplary profiles to illustrate good practices Reflection: Student Learning Profile

How could the NSS Curriculum help to achieve the goal of Whole Person Development? Student Learning Profile

Senior Secondary Student Learning Profile (SLP) A key to future success……

Value & Attitude Generic Skill Building on Strengths of Basic Education: The Whole Curriculum Framework (Coherence, Fullan) 4 Core Subjects: Chinese Language, English Language, Mathematics, Liberal Studies (45-55%) 2-3 Elective Subjects out of 20 subjects or out of courses in career- oriented studies (20-30%) Essential Learning Experiences including moral and civic education, community service, aesthetic and physical experiences and work-related experiences (e.g. job attachment) (15-35%) P1- S3 NSS Moral and Civic Education Intellectual Development Community Service Physical & Aesthetic Development Career-related Experiences General Studies

15 – 35%20 – 30%45 – 55% Career-oriented studies (alternative(s) to elective(s)) Other learning experiences (moral and civic education, community service, aesthetic and physical activities, career- related experiences) 2 or 3 elective subjects (chosen from a range of 20 elective subjects) Chinese Language, English Language, Mathematics and Liberal Studies as core subjects for ALL students Proposed NSS Curriculum

Issues in Liberal Studies Chinese Language English Language Other Learning Experiences Mathematics X 1 X 2 X 3 Proposed NSS Curriculum

Why Other /Essential Learning Experiences Expected Outcomes of OLE  Whole Person Development ( 德、智、體、羣、 美 )  Complement the examination subjects/ career-oriented studies  Building up life-long capacities: To nurture informed & responsible citizenship To respect for Plural values & Healthy living style To develop career aspirations

Student Learning Profile 1)HK Diploma of Secondary Education 2)Career Oriented Studies 3)School Internal Assessment 4)Other Learning Experiences 5)Other Achievements gained outside schools NSS Student Learning Profile Senior Secondary Curriculum Guide in mid 2006

Student Learning Profile Reflects a concern for whole-person development To motivate learning and engagement To recognize non-academic achievements To give employers and higher education institutions a more complete picture of the individual and his/her achievements NSS Student Learning Profile

Other Learning Experiences Student Learning Profile Moral & Civic Education Physical Education Aesthetic Experiences Career-related Experiences Community Services Moral & Civic Education Physical Education Aesthetic Experiences Career-related Experiences Community Services Participation Achievements Reflections Attributes Participation Achievements Reflections Attributes

P articipation (e.g. no. of hours, participating role) A chievements gained (e.g. Prizes, awards, certificates,….) R eflections (e.g. student log, short essays) A ttributes and Capabilities (e.g. leadership, social skills, … ) [a checklist to choose] + a qualitative remarks/ comment (overall)

SLP: Certification/ Final Report HKEAA exams COS SLP final report SLP at Systemic Level Electronic system/ infra-structure run by HKEAA/EMB SS3SS2SS1 Achievements and awards outside schools* School-based SLP Other Learning Experiences (PARA) Internal results by subjects Web-SAMS Information validated by schools Student * Data provided by student. Student holds sole responsibility to provide evidence when requested. schools

What are the success criteria of SLP? What is important? What is not? Students understand and value SLP Teachers value SLP It is valued by parents It is recognized by future employers and higher education institutions The process needs to be truly reflective and self-evaluative driven by students Re-structuring teachers’ space for effective dialogue with students …

What are the success criteria of SLP? What is important? What is not? Less ImportantVery Important Student Employers ParentTeacher Universities

What is the longest distance in the world? “The longest distance is the ‘gap’ between the curriculum imposed by the state/ adults and what’s in a child’s mind!” Time for our reflection?

Guiding Principles to build School-based OLE Programme Student-focused Entitlements Quality Building on existing practices / strengths Learning together

Curricular Options Project-basedActivity-basedLow Event-based Curriculum- based High LowHigh Structure Predefined Content