From controlled assessment and non-exam assessments to ‘practical endorsement’

From controlled assessment and non-exam assessments to ‘practical endorsement’.

This report of the CAS Assessment working group considers a change from formal coursework assessment to formative practical work and the implications of a ‘practical endorsement’ for computing qualifications.

Conclusion Divorcing the practical element of the course from ‘high stakes’ assessment, while still making it a central part of the delivery of the qualification, will lead to greater freedom for the school, teachers and the Awarding Body.  This freedom could invigorate the subject, not only allowing support for some and the possibility of extending others, but eliminating the constraints imposed by the criterion based assessment of practical work.

CAS Assessment working group (January 2017) Miles Berry, Tim Eaglestone, Victoria Ellis, Ian Gover, Steve Hunt, Alan O'Donohoe, Chris Roffey, Cynthia Selby, Jane Waite, Eliot Williams, Frances Wilson and John Woollard (chair) with special thanks to Tim Oates of Cambridge Assessment.

We are seeking teacher members for the CAS Assessment working group. The next meeting will be in the Midlands in April-time. The summer meeting with be in the north.