THE ASSESSMENT OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN THE JUNIOR CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION

1. The purposes of assessment in theeducational process

Assessment is an integral part of the educational process. Its purposes include fostering learning, improving teaching, and providing valid 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 curriculums and of 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.

2. 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 influence 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.
• Assessment that is equitable will provide a range of indicators that will offer the students multiple opportunities to achieve.

3. 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.

So far, however, Religious Education has not been assessed for national certification purposes. The introduction of new syllabuses for the Junior and the Leaving Certificate exams offers the option of assessment for this purpose for the first time. In planning for this assessment, the general principles of quality assessment outlined above must be taken into account. 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 theaims 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 andlearning

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 should reflect the aims of the syllabus and have the reliability and credibility required for national certification purposes.

• assessment that is equitable

Assessment should afford students a range of opportunities to achieve to their full potential.

4. What will be assessed in Religious Education in the state examinations?

The assessment of Religious Education at Junior and Leaving Certificate levels 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.

5. Modes of assessment for Religious Education in the Junior Certificate Examination

5.1 Differentiation: two levels of assessment and certification

In common with other syllabuses examined for the purposes of national certification, Religious Education will be assessed at Higher and Ordinary levels in the Junior Certificate examination.

5.2 Two components

The assessment will consist of two components. These components ­ a final written paper and journal work ­ offer the widest range of opportunities for student 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 award of a grade will be by way of aggregation of marks achieved in the two components. The total number of marks awarded in the examination will be 400.

5.2.1 Final written examination

At Junior Certificate level it is proposed that all sections of the syllabus 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.

5.2.2 Journal work

Students will be required to complete a journal for the examination. A title for journal work will be selected from a set of twelve titles (two from each section), which will be provided to schools in each year of the examination, together with guidelines for the preparation and completion of the journal. While the journal work can support all the aims of the syllabus, it has particular relevance to the third aim of the syllabus:

To identify how understandings of God, religious traditions,and in particular the Christian tradition, have contributedto the culture in which we live, and continue to have animpact on personal life-style, inter-personal relationships,and relationships between individuals and theircommunities and contexts (p. 6).

In support of the broad aims of the syllabus, journal work will:

• facilitate a variety of teaching and learning methods
• promote the development of skills in research, analysis, drawing conclusions, presentation, etc.
• afford the students the opportunity to encounter religion as part of life
• facilitate the exploration of an area of personal interest or concern to the student

The preparation of a journal will involve a wide range of knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes identified in the syllabus. In particular, the work should draw on and promote the development of the following skills:

(adapted from Design in Education, NCAD/NCCA, 1998)

5.2.3 Submission and assessment of the journal

Journal work undertaken by students or groups of students may be a group effort, but each student must submit an individual piece of work. Each student then presents his or her journal to the school authorities on an agreed date. The journal is submitted in a standard form in a booklet supplied for that purpose. On the day of the state examinations in Religious Education, the journals are given to the examination superintendent for inclusion with the written examination papers. The two components will be examined together.

Given the present arrangements for the Junior Certificate examination, the journal will be submitted and assessed according to the procedure outlined above. In the future it may be feasible tooffer option B or C.

Option B

The journal is submitted to the teacher in the form of a scrapbook or folder or on a computer disk and may include photographs, diagrams, or charts. While clarity is necessary for assessment purposes, no marks will be awarded for the quality of the design or presentation.

On an agreed date, the mark for the journal is submitted by the teacher to the Department of Education and Science. Journals submitted would be subject to moderation by an external examiner appointed by the Department of Education and Science.

Option C

A journal is completed by the student. Each student must submit an individual piece of work for assessment by an external examiner on an agreed date. The assessment may take place in the school or at some central location.