Page 24 - Looking_after_school

Looking after school: a critical analysis of personalisation in education

input of support (not the organisation of education), about supervi-
sion of learning (not the teacher), about learning pathways (not the
curriculum) and about testing and assessment (not examination, in
which evaluation coincides with qualification). The solutions that are
suggested leave no doubt about what is at stake here.
The main ambition is the efficient and effective realisation of learn-
ing outcomes for all. Everything else, such as the place and time of
learning or the didactic and pedagogic support, must be attuned to
this aim. These learning outcomes are the raw material for the knowl-
edge economy. In this sense, immediate economic interests are at stake
when developing efficient and effective education is positioned as the
major challenge. There is a disconnect between, on the one hand,
learning processes and outcomes (the ‘process’ and the ‘output’) and
institutions and support of education (the ‘input’) on the other. Stated
otherwise: what matters most are the learning processes and learning
outcomes of the individual learner, not, or not anymore, the educa-
tional institution. It is important who learns and what is learned, not
as much where and when. The European Commission is clear here:

“While the learning outcomes approach is already the basis of the Euro-
pean Qualifications Framework and national qualification frameworks,
this fundamental shift has not yet fully percolated through to teaching
and assessment. Institutions at all levels of education and training still
need to adapt in order to increase the relevance and quality of their edu-
cational input to students and the labour market, to widen access and to
facilitate transitions between different education and training pathways.”
(European Commission, 2012, p. 7)

In other words, concentrating on the learner and their learning out-
comes presents a major challenge to developing adequate forms of
testing:

“What is assessed can often determine what is valued and what is taught.
While many Member States have reformed curricula, it remains a chal-
lenge to modernise assessment to support learning.” (European Com-
mission, 2012, p. 7)

24