Social Psychology in School Setting - Essay Example

Introduction The field of teaching younger children and especially those with SEN (Special Education Needs) has been under continuous research and development. Schools and teachers have witnessed several fine tunings in the teaching methodology. Now, teaching is much like any other systematic research on a group. Teacher’s task and responsibilities have also been on a rise for the same reason. Teaching assistants were then employed to assist teachers in performing several task of planning, teaching, evaluation and assessment cycle. Teaching assistants play a vital role in upbringing the effectiveness of current teaching methodology. Here we will be critically analysing the effectiveness of this planning, teaching, evaluation and assessment cycle with reference to the current assessment theory. Also we will discuss the role of a teaching assistant in assessment process. We will learn about various methods for assessing children’s work such as verbal questioning, marking, setting homework, observing, peer and self assessment, using both formative and summative assessments. Planning –Teaching – Evaluation – Assessment Cycle This cycle of Planning, Teaching, Evaluation and Assessment is a standard which most school administrators want their teachers to follow. Now this complete cycle can either be executed after being completely programmed first or alternatively each step of this cycle can be planned and executed one by one. Previous method will be more successful in teaching higher grade students and latter will prove useful in teaching younger lot. It is obvious that for effective teaching this cycle has to be dynamic in nature and needs to be constantly updated as per the learning requirements of kids which become clearer after every assessment. Cairney opines (Cairney, 1995:161) that completely pre-planned programme is restrictive because If one adopts an approach to teaching that consists of a cycle of planning, teaching, assessment and evaluation and reflection then one must be open to changes to the teaching programme and be prepared to make constant adjustments to meet the changing need of learners. Every step / phase of this cycle governs the other steps. Planning This phase is the most important one as it gives you the way to walk on. Although Cairney stresses (Cairney, 1995:161) that there is no best format for planning or programming, and hence teachers should develop their own style that suits their needs. So every teacher needs to develop his / her own way of planning keeping some key factors in mind. In the preparation of an assessment plan, at first stage, the purpose should be related to the area to be studied, taking into account the age and ability of the pupils being taught. This will provide a very general overall programme for the entire course and will indicate where particular purposes are best met; for example, diagnosis would be helpful early in the course and perhaps at term intervals, whilst assessment of the benefits derived would be more useful at the conclusion of the course. For a good assessment plan the realisation of each purpose requires different kind of information that can be obtained through a variety of assessment techniques. It is a common practice for teachers to use for predictive purposes, norm referenced assessment, comparing pupils’ performances against that of a group or class, school or even a nation. While framing an assessment plan there are some requirements which should be met – Pupil should be made aware of the assessment procedures which are to be used and must understand the system by which final results, are to be arrived. Students need to be reassured of the relevance of the whole plan. While making an assessment plan the location selected must be suitable for the method of assessment, (Cotton, 1995:96) the area selected should be tidy and safe for practical exams and spacious and well aired rooms for written exams. Candidate should have clear and undutiful instructions for the assessment method with no trick questions. Teaching: This phase is more practical than others. There is no analysing or theorising involved in this. It needs only to act upon guidelines made during planning phase. All things needs to be strictly followed as planned if one wants to correlate teaching with evaluation and assessment to achieve successful completion of cycle. There is no room for on the spot variation if situation requires as the assessment plan will then need to change. After completion of teaching phase, comes evaluation which measures student’s achievements as well as teacher’s and content performance. Evaluation: (Cotton, 1995:5) The planned objectives have been achieved to what extent through teaching, it is tested in evaluation. Evaluation not only provides judgement for the teacher’s ability and competency of the subject, it also brings into light the level of achievements made by the students. Evaluation determines the effects and the effectiveness of the teaching .It is difficult to say where assessment ends and evaluation begins because the same tools can be used for each process. This is a broadly accepted view that assessment is the process of judging individual learner and evaluation is the process of judging the learning programmes, including teacher performance. ASSESSMENT has the general purpose of describing a person’s level of achievement or potential and EVALUATION aims to describe the effectiveness of educational and training procedure. A good assessment would always be without any distortion of examination results, achievement records and assessor’s personal attitude towards student. Assessment: (Cotton, 1995:89) Assessment is to measure the extent of learning in individuals. The tests or techniques used in it must summarize this general aim. The best assessment of a person would be a complete life history. Analysis without a bias or distortion of examination results, achievement records, personal reports or standard test data merely gives limited glimpses of the whole picture. In a perfect assessment the assessor achieves a flawless appraisal of exactly the quality which is under examination without disturbing the candidate. Diagnosis of pupils’ strength and weaknesses, assessment of the extent to which pupils have benefited from a course of instruction, evaluation of the method of teaching, prediction of pupils’ future performance and placement of pupils in the most beneficial educational situation are the major purposes of the assessment. In schools the most visible assessment is summative Assessment; it is the crucial point in educational process. Commonly used assessment is summative and formative assessments. Summative assessment method is used to assign grades at the beginning or at the end of a unit, programme or course so that a final mark or grade can be awarded. Summative assessment results can be used in evaluation of the learning programmes, learning environment or teacher performance. There is also a special type of summative assessment which is called “IPSATIVE“. It measures the progress that an individual learner makes by going through a learning experience. Summative assessment can also be used as a tool for selection, to provide places in training and education as well for employment opportunities, which all decides the economic status of the individual in society. Summative assessment generally takes place at the end of the academic year and provides a base of judgement to the teachers to give feedback to the parents about their children’s progress in that academic session. This type of assessment is very helpful for the teacher to make an effective plan for the next unit with appropriate teaching methods and techniques in supporting educational environment. If some students are identified under the category of special educational needs (SEN) can be assisted individually to reach at normal level. Summative assessment is important in checking each child’s progress against expected levels of attainment, but it can not be said to be an ultimate assessor, which can help teacher to plan their teaching and learning and provide regular feedback to children and their parents, as it occurs periodically. To overcome this drawback of assessment formative assessment is used. Formative assessment is designed to establish what progress a student is making during learning and to give feedback on it .Formative assessment approaches and techniques make a teacher able to meet diverse students’ needs and to raise level of student’s achievements. Formative assessment may be applied at the school to identify areas for improvement and to promote effective and constructive methods of modification. Formative assessment is constant feedback used by teachers to determine what sort of teaching learning, support and encouragement pupils require, it has to be given individually or to whole class. This feedback can be obtained regular examination of children’s work, oral responses from children in class, parents response and comments, feedback from reading records, queries with that children come, comments and concerns of the children and assessment that is planned beforehand as: spelling tests, punctuation test etc. Formative assessment comes from a wide range of information which can help to diagnose particular difficulties children may have, as well as provide an ongoing record of the children’s progress. (Kay, 2005:133-138) Approaches to assessment- Mostly ‘pragmatic’ and ‘predetermined’ approaches are used to assess the actuality of teaching – learning situation. Better assessment comes out when assimilation of various popular approaches is implemented. Students can be assessed on a National curriculum level which set general attainment standards; average of class achievement can also give information about child’s development in relation to the rest of the class and child’s own progress rates in terms of his individual development. Teacher may identify, children with special needs, give feedback to parents, know children’s individual progress and the range of levels of ability within the class to inform planning, when he assesses in relation to the rest of the class. e praise and encouragement and to help unconfident children to recognize that they have progressed, approaches use on a regular basis helps the child, If the child is judged against his previous record it becomes a good basis to give parents, teachers and support workers to recognize and praise areas where progress is being made, and it helps in areas where progress is less evident. Various assessment approaches are effective when used considering child’s gender, culture and language, particular skills and strengths and response to different assessment methods (FRITH, 1987:10-13). Effectiveness of the cycle Education programs are most effective when they occur within a well-planned, long term framework. Effective planning helps schools and educators become more focused and intentional in their work. It enables the provision of richer learning opportunities, greater balance in the curriculum and improved use of resources. Planning affects all aspects of school life and is a shared enterprise involving teacher, student, parents and the community. Often school administrators insist on complete pre-programming, if one adopts fixed cycle of planning, teaching, assessment and evaluation it never meets accordingly to all children. Certain facts raise question on the effectiveness of this cycle: Individual difference This cycle is very little effective when applied to whole class, as all students have different IQ level ,slow and fast grasping power, different attitudes towards topic and different pre-knowledge level. Age & Sex effectiveness of this cycle depends enormously on the age and sex of the children. Some topics are interesting for girls others are for boys and acquisition level depends on the interest in the subject matter. Culture and Family students of same class are from diverse culture, in planning all elements from all cultures should be assimilated so that the student can feel himself at least little bit acquainted to develop interest. Teaching is not a definite process, neither its methods nor techniques are fixed; teachers are essentially researchers constantly seeking new methods as per the requirements of the children and to give direction to the teaching day by day. There are various methods used for both formative and summative assessment such as Verbal Questioning, Marking, Setting Homework, Observing, Peer and Self Assessment. Each of these methods are sometimes effective and sometimes not. The nature of the subject and the objectives to be achieved help determine the methods of assessment. Therefore at the time of curriculum planning itself the methods of assessments, suitable for each subject, must be carefully determined. Therefore a great amount of planning need to be done into the methods and programme of teaching. The teacher will have to carefully plan and schedule his work of teaching and assessment. The success of the system depends on its acceptance by students. Tests, assignments etc. must be framed to enable objectivity in assessment. The student must be briefed clearly and in advance about the programme of assessment, its contents, timing and criteria and the weightages attached to each method of assessment. He should also be allowed to discuss the valuation of his assignments, answer books or other work at every stage and be convinced of its fairness. Current assessment theory does not follow the strict cycle of planning – teaching – evaluation – assessment. At present formative assessment is used. Various other methods like verbal questioning. In English for assessing ability to communicate ideas and sustain conversation, for clear and distinct articulation and for lively and expressive delivery verbal questioning is done. Role of teaching assistant- In the changing scenario of the society the helping staff transform our schools’ ability to raise standards of pupil achievement. Teaching assistants are playing vast and fulfilling roles and letting teachers to focus and concentrate on teaching only. Teaching assistants are not just passive observers but contributors and innovators in their own right. So in the busy life of the classroom it is necessary that the teacher and teaching assistant reflect teamwork and positive relationship along with their complementary roles in teaching learning process. Teacher and teaching assistant must respect for each other’s strengths and weaknesses and they must congratulate each other on positive and regular basis, they should also provide each other with positive feedback about difficulties with pupils within a generally positive working framework. (TYRER, 2004:72) Classrooms are no longer the sole preserve of teachers, in fact, in many classrooms today there is a team of workers delivering the curriculum and assessing children’s progress. The range of roles for teaching assistant in primary setting varies depending on the school. Many of them work with children with special educational needs in small groups or one to one. Teaching assistants perform a variety of functions either with groups or with individual children, as required in schools. Teaching assistant major role is to do assessment. This Assessment should focus on: (Kay, 2005:16-18) The child’s learning characteristics The learning environment The task The teaching style Assessment should also include: Records/outcomes of previous assessments Ongoing assessment and observation of the child’s strength and areas requiring additional support Consultation with and involvement of parents Teaching assistants has a very important role to play in monitoring and assessment of the individual or group of children with whom they involved in supporting. The role of assessment in monitoring children’s performance has become well established in last few years. Assessment makes the ground on which the further planning for teaching and learning take place. While making an assessment plan the teaching assistant must know what children know, what they can do and where they need to go next. A teacher judges whole class so he can’t be well acquainted with the basic problems of the children. References CAIRNEY, T. (1995). Pathways to literacy. London, Cassell. TYRER, R. (2004). A toolkit for the effective teaching assistant. London, Paul Chapman. FRITH, D. S., & MACINTOSH, H. G. (1987). A teachers guide to assessment. Cheltenham, Stanley Thornes. COTTON, J. (1995). The theory of assessment : An introduction. London, Kogan Page. KAY, J. (2005). Teaching assistants handbook : primary edition. London, Continuum. Read More