Assessment, Teaching And Curriculum in General Vocational Education Qualifications

Summary

Since 2002, a series of research studies on the impact of assessment and curriculum policy in vocational education has influenced programmes for teachers’ professional development, informed the development of general vocational education qualifications and a major inquiry into adult vocational teaching and learning, led by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS).

Beneficiaries

Apart from scholars in the field of higher education, teacher education providers for practitioners in further education colleges have benefited from the research, together with qualification designers at Pearson and those taking part in the Commission for Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning, led by LSIS.

Types of impact

• ideas about ‘good practice’ in assessment feedback, and the role of assessment in learning
• enhancements to professional development

Vehicles for impact

The main vehicles for achieving impact are collaborations with awarding body officials, those leading policy commissions, and practitioner communities through professional development programmes

Underpinning research

Supported by grants awarded by national agencies (Nuffield, Learning and Skills Development Agency and Pearson) and enhanced by consultancy work funded by the Finnish National Board of Education between 2003-9, the research is a key strand in current thinking about the links between assessment and curriculum policy and everyday practice in a neglected part of the English education system, namely general vocational education. It illuminates how injunctions for good assessment practice need to take much more account of conflicting pressures on teachers’ and students’ attitudes and practices in relation to the key role of assessment in learning and achievement.

Publications

Ecclestone, K. 2010 Transforming assessment in lifelong learning, Open University Press
Contact

Professor Kathryn Ecclestone