The assessment of religious education in the Junior Certificate examination

THE RATIONALE FOR ASSESSMENT

Assessment is an integral part of the educational process. Its purposes include fostering learning, improving teaching, and providing information about what has been done or
achieved. It provides important feedback for students and teachers and information on the education system for society at large. Assessment offers opportunities for the evaluation of
curricula and for students' progress and for the certification of achievement. Certification of achievement can have a positive effect on students' motivation. It rewards students, in a practical way, for time and effort given to the study of a syllabus. Assessment at junior certificate level also provides information on decisions that may be taken with regard to pathways at senior cycle.
While it is clear that assessment can have many purposes within the educational process, it should be noted that not all such purposes are compatible. Assessment for certification
purposes, for example, may provide important information on students' performance, but it may be less useful in providing feedback for students on the quality of their learning and
understanding.

General principles of quality educational assessment

• Assessment should be used as a continuous part of the teaching-learning process, involving pupils, wherever possible, as well as teachers in identifying next steps.
• Assessment for any purpose should improve learning by exerting a positive force on the curriculum at all levels. It must, therefore reflect the full range of curriculum goals.
• Assessment should provide an effective basis for communication with parents and the other partners in the learning enterprise in a way that helps them to support students' learning.
• The most valuable assessment takes place at the site of learning.
• A valid assessment of educational achievement must clearly reflect all the elements - cognitive and affective - that it claims to evaluate, and those elements will be identified with the substance of the curriculum that has been followed.
• The choice of different assessment procedures should be decided on the basis of the purpose for which the assessment is being undertaken. This may well mean employing different techniques for formative, diagnostic and certification purposes.
• Assessment must be both valid and reliable. These aspects of assessment are particularly relevant for national assessment for certification purposes, and for assessment for the purpose of reporting to parents.
• Assessment that is equitable will provide a range of indicators that will offer the students multiple opportunities to achieve.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION FOR NATIONAL CERTIFICATION

Assessment is not new to religious education. Teachers of religious education currently use a range of formal and informal modes and techniques of assessment for feedback, evaluation and planning purposes. Some schools include information on performance
and achievement in religious education in the reporting and feedback arrangements for parents. Effective teaching includes effective assessment, and the effective teaching of religious education is no exception.
To date however, religious education has not been assessed for national certification
purposes. The introduction of new syllabus for the Junior Certificate offers the option of assessment for this purpose for the first time. In planning for this assessment, regard must be had for the general principles of quality assessment outlined above. Proposals for the
assessment of religious education for national certification draw on the experiences of assessment for certification in other subject areas as well as current research and insights into the nature of thinking and understanding and the role of assessment in the promotion of learning and teaching. In particular, planning assessment arrangements for religious education for national certification focused on:

• linking of modes and techniques of assessment to the aims of the syllabus
  The aims of the syllabus are broad and refer to a variety of broad outcomes; the modes and techniques for the assessment of the syllabus should reflect the same pattern.
• structuring the assessment around stated objectives
  The specific objectives for each part of the syllabus should guide the design of the assessment procedures.
• assessment that has a positive effect on teaching and learning
  The assessment procedures adopted should support the use of a variety of approaches to teaching and learning.
• assessment that is valid and reliable
  The assessment procedures will have to reflect the aims of the syllabus
  and have the reliability and credibility required for national certification purposes.
• assessment that is equitable
  Students should be afforded a range of opportunities to achieve to their full potential

WHAT WILL BE ASSESSED IN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN THE JUNIOR CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION?

The assessment of religious education in the Junior Certificate examination will be based on the objectives relating to knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes within each section of the course. While students will draw on their own experience in an examination, their personal faith commitment and/or affiliation to a particular religious grouping will not be subject to assessment for national certification. The chart below outlines the framework for such assessment.

MODES OF ASSESSMENT FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN THE JUNIOR CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION

In common with other syllabuses examined for the purposes of national certification, Religious Education will be assessed at Higher and Ordinary level in the Junior Certificate examination. The ordinary level student will be expected to:

• identify information relevant to the question/assignment
• recall relevant information and express it in a coherent form
• relate given information to other information and draw conclusions
• express relevant opinions supported by appropriate evidence
• link different elements of the course
• identify and label characteristics in familiar contexts
• read and comprehend relevant material.

In addition, the higher level student will be expected to:

• identify information relevant to the question/assignment
• recall relevant information and express it in a coherent form
• relate given information to other information and to draw conclusions
• express relevant opinions supported by appropriate evidence
• describe a variety of opinions and associated supporting evidence
• link different elements of the course
• identify and label characteristics across a range of familiar and unfamiliar contexts
• read and comprehend relevant material and draw conclusions
• describe problems, propose solutions and evaluate solutions
• differentiate between disparate elements.

The assessment will consist of two components. These components - a final written paper (one at ordinary level and one at higher)and journal work - offer the widest range of opportunities for students' achievement within the practicalities of a national examination. These components reflect the breadth of the aims of the syllabus, which include a range of knowledge, understanding, skills, and attitudes. The allocations of marks set out below are the proposed weightings.

In the Junior Certificate examination all sections of the syllabus will be examined in the written examination paper. However, questions need not be specific to one section but may be based on the objectives of a number of sections. A variety of questions will be included on the papers, comprising photographs, cloze passages, multiple choice, the writing of paragraphs, analysis and interpretation of data, the drawing and labelling of diagrams, etc. The following types of questions will be included:

Objective items

• only one predetermined correct answer

Structured questions (structured in a number of ways)

• in the format of the question
• in the structure of the material under consideration
• in the structure of the problem posed

Open-ended or essay question (Higher level only)

• respondent decides what to include or exclude - little guidance given other than time allocated.