Assessment tasks—an ethical challenge for some schools     031

The assessment of students today, particularly senior high school students has become very complex and multifaceted. In Year 12, assessment is carried out externally by the Board of Studies and internally by school set examinations and assessment tasks. The Board provides schools with a great deal of information on procedures and requirements for these internal assessments. Assessments must provide evidence of satisfactory achievement, and for most students outcomes will be achieved independently (see www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/HSC/ HSC assessment). Schools are to maintain contact with the Board as necessary and this would apply to any instances of suspected malpractice. Unfortunately, this entry deals with exactly this—suspicions of malpractice based on unethical approaches.

Assessment does need to be fair and just and this means that assessment is accurate and unbiased. This approach produces the most benefits for all stakeholders in the education process. A fair and just approach is also indicative of a moral in line with the values and beliefs, and resultant expectations, of people in this country.  Assessment procedures designed in this way can also have a very positive effect on how children learn, in other words the assessment process is in itself a learning experience.

So exactly what is happening out there that could cause some students and parents to be concerned? In a nutshell, some schools, mainly involving Years 10, 11 and 12, provide students with either the exact question which will be asked in the assessment task, or the exact wording of a major part of the assessment task. Now the Board of Studies does require schools to inform students of the assessment criteria before they begin the task, but what some schools do oversteps what is intended.

If students know the exact assessment question, or the greater part of it before an examination, then that student could have someone else write the answer for them, or provide them with very detailed assistance. This may give that student an advantage to which they are not procedurally or morally entitled to. It is especially harmful to students who are already educationally disadvantaged for one or more reasons.

This type of problem has many variations. Sometimes schools set an examination but on the day of the examination some children are absent, usually because of sickness. Later those same children return to do the examination, but it is precisely the same examination. There is of course the risk that these children will have spoken to their friends and obtained the precise details of the questions.

Examination and assessment procedures must be designed so that not only are they fair and just but that also students and parents can see that they are. Unfortunately many students like the system just the way it is. If precise details are given as to assessment or examination questions then this allows students to prepare answers. For these students preparation of an answer over a number of days is far less stressful than studying content beforehand, and in the examination room organising it ready to an answer.

Your child then could be disadvantaged by the assessment procedures used by your child’s school. It’s a topic which needs to be brought up with the school executive and changes made. Of course students do need fairly direct guidance as to what they should be studying and how to go about it but there is a line that should not be crossed, and in too many schools that line either doesn’t exist or is indistinct. Parents need to redraw the line and then maintain the line.

All content copyright—Mark Thackray—Australian Educational Services