Oral Presentations

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Author: search.filters.author.Poskitt JMHas files: Yes

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    Degree apprenticeships: Is this the future for employer-led partnerships in New Zealand?
    (26/10/2017) Poskitt JM
    Work-ready graduates with practical skills and theoretical knowledge in engineering is essential. Traditionally, potential employees arrive with either theoretical knowledge from University study, or with practical skills learnt ‘on the job’. Yet employers need personnel with theoretical and practical competencies from the outset to undertake project work. To address this, the Tertiary Education Commission initiated a pilot study of Degree Apprenticeships, aimed at investigating how a qualification comprising a nexus of practical and theoretical work could be integrated into the students’ work environment. A number of conditions needed consideration. Only if it was employer-led, endorsed by them and addressed their requirements could the innovation be successful. But given the multiple demands on employer time; different constraints according to the nature of their enterprise; urban-rural location, political and financial complexities; coordinating the innovation could be challenging. This was a four month study with a limited budget. A university-polytechnic team collaborated to facilitate the process. Engineering staff in the Polytechnic sector were invited to provide additional input and contributed pivotal knowledge of tertiary qualification standards to underpin the innovation. The presentation reports the collaborative and facilitative process undertaken. Research interviews were conducted with a small range of employers in purposively sampled urban, regional and rural locations in the North Island. Analysis of the interview data informed the initial draft standard, to which participants were invited to critically discuss and subsequently refine at two collaborative workshops. Balancing academic process and deadlines with the need to be responsive to employer realities created dilemmas, along with the need to manage power differentials in knowledge, experience and political influence. Employer-led learning partnerships are are seen as best practice in developing apprenticeship qualifications, providing there is a spirit of mutual respect, inter-dependence and collaboration across employer, student and tertiary providers.
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    A cross country analysis of social justice in assessment
    (2017-11-27) Poskitt JM; Adie L; Hayward L
    Social justice is an international concern and evident in education and assessment policies, but is less evident in the enactment of reporting policy and practices. We explore these ruptures in assessment policy through analysis of the assessment documents of three countries, Australia, New Zealand and Scotland. Specifically, we address the social and cultural assumptions that limit opportunities for student and parent voice in reporting processes. Robinson and Taylor’s (2007) four core values of student voice form the conceptual framework. In order to better align assessment, reporting and social justice practices, we draw on notions of spirit and letter of assessment, feedback to create dialogic spaces, and the relationship between formative and summative assessment. Lundy’s (2007) conceptualisation of voice is used to propose ways forward to create a more socially just reporting system. To transform reporting practices, we recommend reconceptualising reporting as communicating, and assessment as progressing learning.
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    Learning from moderation of OTJs: The political balancing act.
    (21/11/2016) Poskitt JM
    Internationally, attention to educational accountability sharpened during the Global Financial Crisis period, with a political need for student achievement data. International achievement testing strongly influenced educational policy globally (Volante, 2016) and in New Zealand (Poskitt, 2016a). “Advocates of standards-based reform argue that large-scale assessment programs provide valuable and necessary information to assist in the revision of national evaluation systems, curriculum standards, and performance targets” (Volante, 2016, p.3). Worldwide testing programs provide international and intra-national comparative data on student achievement at particular student ages, but they do not capture achievement across all year levels of compulsory schooling. Limited sampling size and the need for international comparability in content means the tests have reduced validity for local contextual purposes. To address the need for localised student achievement data across the primary school years, New Zealand implemented National Standards (NS) in 2010. The intention of NS was also to avoid risks of narrowing the curriculum and ‘teaching to the test’ by developing NS that were broad in description, linked to New Zealand Curriculum levels and utilized teachers’ professional judgments (Poskitt, 2016b). At the heart of the NS policy are overall teacher judgments (OTJs). Primary teachers are required to make standards judgments for each of their students in reading, writing and mathematics based on a range of achievement information. Schools vary in the ‘evidence’ they use and their interpretations of it. Social moderation is intended to assist the dependability of the OTJs. “This practice involves teachers expressing their interpretations of assessment criteria and standards with the aim of reaching agreement on the award of a standard” (Klenowski & Wyatt-Smith, 2014, p.74), and thereby increase the validity and reliability of teachers’ subsequent judgements. Little is known about the moderation processes used by New Zealand teachers. In what ways do teachers express their interpretations of assessment criteria and standards? What influences their judgments in moderation meetings? This paper examines the moderation conversations of teachers involved in a school cluster professional development initiative on student writing. Political influences are evident in relation to the power of: teacher knowledge and expectations, seniority (by age and designation), reference points used and limited resourcing. Unless resources are invested in ongoing professional learning for moderation, dependability of OTJs will be undermined. The resultant risk is political influences will usurp teacher involvement in assessment and rely primarily on international achievement tests for monitoring the health of NZ’s education system.