I believe that assessing children holistically is the best way
to get know children as it enables us to learn a lot about them. And in
order for assessment to be effective, it should use multiple approaches that
are appropriate for the child’s competency. It should take place continually,
in more than one activity or setting to generate a more accurate picture of
each child’s ability. Assessment helps us to identify children who may benefit
from special support/intervention. Holistic assessment helps make children’s learning
visible to themselves through the evidence of their learning as well as
promoting children’s belief in their ability and setting challenging learning
goals. Holistic assessment helps early childhood professionals develop a strong
picture of the child’s learning across all outcome areas.
The school I teach in Nigeria is a private school and it runs
the British curriculum. Assessment in the early years is done using what we
call the Learning Journey which is a portfolio. When they turn 5, they write a
test – NFER in Numeracy and English as well as the Phonics Check. Children from the ages of 7 are made aware
of where they are in terms of the learning goals. Once they have achieved that
goal, they know what is expected of them for the next goal. Parents, school
authorities and, policy makers want to know the performance of children and they
use standardized test in most cases. I have had some parents ask me if their
child of 4 years will be writing exams or why we don’t indicate children’s
position(1st, 2nd, etc.) in their end of term report cards. For some of them, they want to
justify that the huge school fees they are spending on their children is justified.
In Nigeria, the education system is called 6 – 3 – 3 – 4
that is, the school age for most children in public schools start at age five
in the primary for six years. Then three years of junior secondary and three
years senior secondary. Children write national tests at each stage especially
for those in public schools.
Looking at how school-aged children are assessed in other
parts of the world, I chose Australia. School-aged children are assessed nationwide
annually in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. The test (National Assessment Program
– Literacy and Numeracy- NAPLAN) is made of tests in four areas- reading,
writing, language conventions and Numeracy.
It saddens my heart as I look at how children are being assessed
in other parts of the world with public school and most private schools in my
country. Most if not all are only assessed using standardized tests which in
most cases does not give the true picture of what a child knows.
References:
ACEI, "On Standardized Testing: A
Position Paper of the Association for Childhood Education International." Childhood
Education. Spring, 1991. pg. 130-142.
htt://www.naplan.edu.au/
