Towards a Better Future

Towards a Better Future: A Review of the Irish School System
involvement with PIRLS, TIMSS and the National Assessments in Reading Literacy and Mathematics
conducted at regular intervals by the ERC on behalf of the DES, ensure that primary schools have
access to a large body of achievement data upon which to guide both their teaching and learning
practices. However, conducting assessment should not be seen as an end in itself; it is merely a means
to a much more important consideration. The real benefits arise when assessment findings are used to
provide meaningful feedback to the learners, and to improve teaching and learning both within the
school and across the wider system. For all of this to happen, as has been noted in the Chief Inspector’s
Report 2010-2012 and other inspection reports, teachers need to be supported with regular in-career
development opportunities on all aspects of assessment theory and practice.
Research conducted by the INTO would indicate that teachers use a variety of assessment tools,
including traditional classroom observation, questioning of pupils, participation in class by pupils,
homework, teacher-designed tests and a range of standardised tests (INTO, 2001). Lysaght and
O’Leary (2013) trialled an instrument designed to audit teachers’ use of Assessment of Learning
(AoL) among a sample of primary school teachers. They found that AoL practices were at an early
stage of implementation and required further development before they are embedded in classrooms.
Constant and Connolly (INTO, 2014) also conducted research on the introduction of formative
assessment practices in a mainstream primary school over an eight-week period. An important feature
of the research was that the students were formally introduced into formative assessment instruction,
a factor that may have had a significant positive impact on the outcomes reported. The authors
concluded that the students benefitted significantly from the experience, becoming more engaged,
autonomous and motivated learners.
Inspection reports indicate that the majority of schools have policies on assessment that influence
and encapsulate the approaches taken by the teachers at individual classroom level. However, some
concerns were raised about practices in a number of schools. More generally, the communication
of assessment data within the school as pupils move upwards in the system is a feature that, it is
stated, could be strengthened. An Inspectors’ report (DES, 2010, pp.1, 9,12) on the teaching and
learning of English and Mathematics in primary schools found that the learning experiences and
learning outcomes were satisfactory in the vast majority (85%) of lessons evaluated (803 lessons in
English and 527 in Mathematics were evaluated). Serious issues were identified in assessment
practices in one third of the lessons (ibid, pp. 6, 9). What is even more striking and more serious is
the strong link found between assessment practices and pupil learning outcomes. In three quarters
of classes with satisfactory pupil outcomes, assessment practices were also judged satisfactory. On the
other hand, in over three quarters of classes with unsatisfactory pupil outcomes, assessment practices
were also unsatisfactory. In effect, it would seem that a significant proportion of pupils were doubly
disadvantaged. The report concludes (p.16) that there is scope for the development of assessment
practices in primary schools. Similar findings on assessment are included in the Chief Inspector’s Report
2010-2012 (DES, 2013a) where it is stated that the use of assessments to guide instruction was also
found to be particularly challenging in one third of the Irish lessons observed (p.51).
— 74 —