Religious Education Curriculum Directory (3-19) - The Catholic ...

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales — Department of Catholic Education and FormationAppendix I — Levels of Attainment in ReligiousEducation in Catholic Schools and CollegesHow to use Levels of Attainment — a summaryPurposes• assessment of pupils’ work is a necessarypart of the learning process;• its purposes include the affirmation of attainmentand achievement, the necessaryrecording and• reporting of pupil progress, and helping thepupil to take the next step in learning;• the levels of attainment provide a ‘criterionreferenced’measure of attainment.Planning• teachers should use the language of the leveldescriptors to inform the way intendedlearning• outcomes are expressed;• teachers should clearly identify the focusand method of assessment from the outset;• the critical question to address at the planningstage is ‘What must I do, in this topic, toenable the pupil to consolidate working attheir present level and create the opportunityto begin to work at the next level?’Gathering evidence• when gathering evidence teachers will beable to draw on the full range of work producedby pupils, in the normal everydayteaching and learning process;• teachers should focus on the clarity of evidencecollected and on making brief tellingannotations in relation to significant attainments.Best-fit• more ‘a subtle art than an exact science’;• made across a range of work over a period oftime;• in relation to single pieces of work they canbe deemed to contribute to the best-fitjudgement.Making judgements• teachers will be making professional judgementsabout pupils’ performance almostcontinuously to ensure further learning;• these judgements will lead to a cumulativejudgement about attainment;• teachers will need to decide whether apupil’s performance taken as a whole over aperiod of time has been more one level thananother (best-fit judgement);• the attainment within any level may be describedas ‘hesitant’, ‘secure’ or ‘confident’;• the process of making judgements aboutpupil attainment will inform decisions aboutfuture planning.A chart of progression• the levels of attainment provide a chart ofeducational progression;• however, progress through the levels will notbe accomplished automatically, appropriatechallenge will have to be provided.Reinforce good religious education• addressing the question ‘what must I do toenable pupils to achieve a particular leveland to demonstrate understanding?’ willnecessarily promote clearer thinking aboutthe purposes of assessment and their contributionto good religious education.63