1. Louise Hayward. Professor of Assessment and Innovation. The Quest for a Learning System- assessment in Scotland SQA August 2014

2. 'Only the past can be cloned, the future must be created’ (IBM strap line) Learning from our past Exploring our present Focusing on the future The Quest for a Learning System

3. Learning from our past The Innovation Cycle? Standard Grade – certification for all Education 5-14 – a coherent, progressive shared curriculum – Assessment Teachers’ Professional Judgement central Higher Still – addressing the academic/ Vocational divide

4. Learning from our past The Innovation Cliff Divergence from aspirations Moves towards industrial action Accommodations that led the Innovation away from its original aspirations Need for further innovation Individual projects or programmes rather than direction of travel

5. What led us to the Innovation Cliff? Complication rather than clarity Compliance rather than professionalism Manageability rather than vision Accountability - driver rather than lever

6. Learning from our past How to avoid the Sisyphus Syndrome? -Being condemned forever to push boulders uphill only to have them roll back down

7. Exploring our present Our quest for a Learning System

8. Our current education system Scotland the best educated country in Europe, claims ONS report The Independent Wednesday 11th June 2014 “In terms of the proportion of the population going into higher and tertiary education, Scotland actually has just about the highest in the world,” ONS chief economic adviser Joe Grice told ITV News. Scotland is best-educated country in Europe The Scotsman Wednesday 11th June 2014 " At the other end of the scale, the proportion of people of working-age population with no qualifications is highest in Northern Ireland (17.2 per cent), with Wales (10.6 per cent) and Scotland (10.3 per cent) not dissimilar and England (9.1 per cent) a bit below that……So, at the other end of the scale, Scotland doesn’t come out quite at the same top-of-the-class way as the other two indicators.”

9. Curriculum and Assessment – Learning for Excellence Scotland is not an education system in crisis Curriculum for Excellence offers educators in Scotland - a vision of what it is to be an educated Scot in a more equitable society - powerful emphasis on professionalism - a further opportunity to create an assessment system that is supportive of both the new curriculum and the aspiration to build a more equitable society

10. Curriculum and Assessment – Learning for Excellence Significant progress - Vision that even at this point in the innovation is supported across communities -Schools across country actively engaged in curriculum and assessment development -Assessment for Learning still a powerful idea -School clusters working to tackle assessment challenges, eg, moderation -Successful first round of examinations

11. Bear Traps The Devil in the Detail Recluttering the curriculum Level Obsession

12. Bear Traps Accountability Assessment Literacy

13. Avoiding the Bear Traps Taking decisions about learning in systems - learning and accountability Internationally the biggest challenge in curriculum and assessment innovation

14. Learning and Accountability Two examples from which we can learn 5-14 national tests and national policy. Impact of end of national data collection? League tables, Driving up standards and the attainment gap We can be confident The areas that tests measure will become what matters Data collected that has the potential to judge teachers and schools will have a wash back effect Imagine the worst possible scenario and plan accordingly

15. Learning and Accountability Two examples from which we can learn 5-14 national tests and national policy. Impact of end of national data collection? League tables, Driving up standards and the attainment gap We can be confident The areas that tests measure will become what matters Data collected that has the potential to judge teachers and schools will have a wash back effect Imagine the worst possible scenario and plan accordingly

16. Learning and Accountability Education should be accountable as a public service. Intelligent accountability. What might it look like if future accountability systems are to be aligned with Curriculum for Excellence? How might such accountability systems be designed as levers for Curriculum for Excellence? At present we have a range of approaches across Scotland, each with their advantages and disadvantages.

17. Learning and Accountability Education should be accountable as a public service. Intelligent accountability. What might it look like if future accountability systems are to be aligned with Curriculum for Excellence? How might such accountability systems be designed as levers for Curriculum for Excellence? At present we have a range of approaches across Scotland, each with their advantages and disadvantages.

18. Learning and Accountability - Principles Need for a national conversation principles for accountability systems, eg, (some very first thoughts) - should relate to Curriculum for Excellence -should support learners and learning - should be dependable and manageable - should be consistent with wider aspirations, eg, promote self- regulation -should provide both local and national information - should be collected in ways designed to avoid predictable wash back, eg, arid rehearsal, the creation of league tables >

19. Learning and Accountability – International Perspectives The Eurydice review of national testing in Europe (Mons, 2009) Hard and Soft Accountability systems -both tests embody and define what matters in learning and are a proxy for the curriculum -Teachers lose motivation, sense of de-professionalisation, seek to cheat the system; -Learners -poor results may increase external motivation but intrinsic motivation decreases, classrooms focus more on rote learning and the transmission of knowledge -Impact on the attainment gap of ‘sorting and grading’, stress, disengagement

20. Learning and Accountability – International Perspectives OECD analysis of PISA science literacy data (2011) economically disadvantaged students who are ‘resilient’ – that is, perform beyond expectations - are confident learners who are ‘more motivated, more engaged and more self-confident than their disadvantaged low achieving peers’. Beyond Europe – 3 sample surveys USA, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP); Canada, the Pan-Canadian Assessment Programme (PCAP); New Zealand, the National Educational Monitoring Programme (NEMP),

21. Learning and Accountability – International Perspectives NAEP,USA, eg, - ‘comprehensive information about what students in the United States know and can do’ in the areas surveyed and to support professional educators through reporting information and data to its main audiences. There are two elements in the survey to match these purposes: a longer-term over-time element (the same basic design and a pool of items retained for re-use); and the main assessment based on carefully designed mathematics and reading frameworks that can be updated periodically.

22. Learning and Accountability – What might we do differently? We have a number of advantages….now Develop Accountability Principles collectively Think through the implications of these principles into practice Design systems that are consistent with the principles Take responsibility for the alignment of principles and practice – every person Focus on purpose and match strategy accordingly, eg, teacher judgements, quality of schools Explore the potential of sampling carefully

23. Learning and Accountability – What might we do differently? Perhaps the biggest danger of all. ' Just tell me what to do......’ Compliance rather than professionalism... Successful sustainable change Educational Integrity Personal and Professional Integrity Systemic Integrity

24. Learning and Accountability – Be resilient Commitment to what we are trying to do Confidence to identify problems as they arise and to take evidence based action to tackle them Courage to keep going when times get hard...as they will

25. Learning and Accountability – Be resilient To see CfE as continuous learning where investigation into areas of challenge - are tackled collectively by policy makers, practitioners and researchers - and where emerging evidence is as likely to lead to policy change as to change in practice If we can do that then we may be able to stop cloning the past and create a new future …….. one of which we may all be proud.

26. Many of the pieces are in place We need to prioritise action Work together towards a shared vision THANK YOU