December 2007

IEAMail, Issue 17 December 2007

Welcome

The IEA would like to wish everyone the best for the festive break and a very Happy New Year!

Content:

New
- It's good to talk - To members in your region!
New
- IEA focuses on the assessors of tomorrow
Institute News -IEA holds Primary Education Professional Panel Meeting
Institute News
- Promoting good assessment practice amongst the teaching profession
New -
Stay up to date with IEA news with the new RSS News Feed
Institute News - Assessment Policy continued
Institute News -
IEAMail - updated archive
Institute News -
OECD Programme for International Pupil Assessment
Institute News -
New IEA Membership brochure now on site!
Institute News -
Are you eligible for Member or Fellow status?
CPD -
Events and Training Course Calendar
Institute News - Online Member Poll
Assessment News - And Finally...
Feedback

Institute News - It's good to talk - To members in your region!

Since our launch back in May 2006 member resources have been generally offered from a national perspective. However, from December a more regional approach has been adopted.

You have been allocated an IEA Region (roughly linked to the Regional Development Agency Boundaries), which will be displayed in the top right-hand corner of your screen (next to your name, membership number and grade) when you log into the IEA website Member Area.

Regional online discussion forums have also been launched on the IEA website and it is hoped that they will facilitate regional networking and the sharing of good practice.

To access your local online discussion forum simply login to the Member area on the IEA Website and register for the online discussion forums. Please note you will need to activate your online member profile first*.

Login to IEA Online Discussion Forums

Activate your online profile

List of regions: North West, South East, West Midlands, South West, London, East, Yorkshire and Humber, East Midlands, Wales, North East, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands, International.

If you would like to change regions please email your preferred region to info@ioea.org.uk

*Please note that you will require the following information to successfully activate your online profile - membership number, date of birth and email address.

New - IEA focuses on the assessors of tomorrow

Along with supporting and increasing the status of assessors, the Institute also promotes good assessment practice to assessors. In October the IEA launched a campaign aimed at Newly Qualified Teachers. Over 2,000 secondary school head teachers, based in England, were sent the new IEA handbook, What you need to know about educational assessment, and were asked to distribute to their NQTs. The handbook can also be found in the Student Area on the IEA website

Read more ...

Since the launch of the campaign the IEA has been overwhelmed with booklet requests, with one college ordering a further 50 copies!

If you could like to order copies of the booklet please email your name, address and preferred quantity to info@ioea.org.uk remembering to enter the words 'NQT Booklet request' in the subject bar.

Institute News - IEA holds Primary Education Professional Panel Meeting

The IEA recently held a Primary Educational Professional Panel Meeting to establish how the Institute can better help primary school teaching professionals in the future.

The panel convened in Coventry on 11th November and consisted of eight members with varied primary education backgrounds - head teachers, deputy head teachers, assessment coordinators and SENCOs.

The panel analysed current member publications, resources and promotional literature. Planned future resources were also analysed and commented upon.

Feedback was positive and it transpired that a lot of the current member resources can be amended to include the primary education sector.

A follow-up panel meeting has been planned within the next 12 months, so if you are interested in attending please look out for an article in IEAMail.

Institute News - Promoting good assessment practice amongst the teaching profession

Following the email we sent last month inviting schools to feature in a new series of programmes broadcast on Teachers TV we are continuing to recruit additional schools to share their experiences on how they have managed to improve their student's exam success.

As part of our drive to promote good practice in teaching, the IEA has partnered with Teachers TV to offer the opportunity for members to become involved in a programme on assessment.

In the Spring Term 2008, Teachers TV will be making three programmes featuring secondary schools which have managed to improve their GCSE A*- C passes in the core subjects of English, Maths and Science. Using examples from members illustrating policies, practices and procedures that have led to improved exam success, Teacher's TV will broadcast these case studies to all secondary schools in the Summer Term.

Teachers TV is looking for three schools, one for each of the three core subjects, where the Head of Department, his/her department members, and perhaps students too, would be willing to talk about what they've achieved, and how they've done it.

If you (or any of your colleagues) have made a significant impact on improving GCSE A*- C passes in English, Maths and/or Science, and would like to register an interest in appearing in one of the three programmes, please forward the following information to info@ioea.org.uk, remembering to enter the words 'Teachers TV' in the subject:

Name:
Job title:
Subject:
Improvement (100 words max):
Impact (100 words max):
Contact telephone number:
Email address:

Please note that if you are not a senior management team member you should gain permission before registering an interest. Also, all expressions of interest need to be received before the end of term.

New - Stay up to date with IEA news with the new RSS News Feed

You will be pleased to hear that the IEA website now contains an RSS Feed that can keep you up to date with the latest developments and breaking news without having to visit the website!

What is a News Feed? A News feed allows you to see when websites have added new content. You can get the latest information in one place, as soon as it's published, without having to visit the separate websites you have taken the feed from.

How do I subscribe to the IEA News Feed? - See below:

Step 1 - Upload a News Reader - A list of news readers can be found here

Step 2 - Whilst your news reader is open, left-click on the news feed icon on the IEA homepage, drag and then drop into the news reader

Step 3 - Visit your news reader and whenever new content is posted on the IEA website you will be the first to hear about it! 

Read more ...

Institute News - Assessment Policy continued - The purpose of assessment (Step 4 of 13)

You now need to consider the purpose of each of the assessments that you intend to carry out. Assessments can be put to many uses. However, it is important to be specific about the purpose(s) of the assessment before the learner embarks on the process. That way the process is kept open and transparent. It is also important not to give the assessment too many purposes, for if there are too many linked to one assessment, we could be accused of having an assessment that is not "fit for purpose."

Read more.

For more information on the purpose and the principles of assessment go to First Steps in Assessment

Institute News - IEAMail archive now live on site!

IEAMail is the monthly member e-newsletter communicating news and views from the IEA. So that members can access previous editions of the e-newsletter we have posted all sixteen editions on the IEA website.

See previous versions

Institute News -OECD Programme for International Pupil Assessment

The OECD's study for comparing the relative international comparisons between pupil achievement, known as the Programme for International Pupil Assessment (Pisa) shows some worrying trends for British pupils.

Although comparisons over time are not valid and our pupils achieve, "statistically significantly above the OECD average", there are still grounds for concern at the relative ranking of our pupils.

The Pisa assessment looks not at the recall of facts and information, but at the application of understanding in the core subjects of numeracy, literacy and science to everyday life and its problems.

Read more ...

Institute News -New IEA Membership brochure now on site!

The updated IEA membership brochure is now live on the IEA website and can be viewed in both PDF and HTML formats. Please feel free to forward this link to a friend/colleague who you think may be interested in joining.

Read more ...

Institute News - Are you eligible for Member or Fellow status?

If you are practicing as a senior examiner (at Team Leader level or equivalent) and would like to establish if you are eligible to apply for Member or Fellow status please visit the new online membership upgrade identification tool located on the IEA website.

Read more ...

The tool will ask you some very simple questions to establish whether or not you meet the set criteria, and if so will direct you to the correct online application form.
 
Internal assessors will be pleased to hear that Member and Fellow grades will be launched along with the formative assessment version of the IEA Professional Framework in early 2008. Specific routes to Member and Fellow status will include:

  • School or college route
  • Applied or workplace route(vocational focus)
  • Higher education institution route
  • Local Authority route
  • Researcher route
  • Independent consultant route
  • Professional body route
  • Awarding body employee route

If you have any membership upgrade queries please email info@ioea.org.uk

Institute News - Online Member Polls

The monthly IEA membership poll for December will not be included in this month's edition of IEAMail. We realise that this is a busy time of the year and free time is at a premium due to other commitments. Therefore the monthly poll will re-commence in January's edition of IEAMail.

CPD - Events and Training Course Calendar

Each month the IEA communicates educational assessment focused events and training courses that are taking place around the UK.

Communicate-ed Assessment related training courses:

Communicate-ed is a company specialising in the training of education professionals who work in the area of special needs.

The IEA has negotiated a 15% discount for members. Please download the appropriate form for the Communicate-ed website Read more ... Please return your application clearly marked 'IEA discount' with your membership number. Please note that the discount only applies to the standard rate and cannot be used with any other offer.

Training providers. Please contact info@ioea.org.uk if you would like to promote your courses within this section of IEAMail.

Members should be aware that the IEA is only communicating these events to its members and not endorsing them.

Assessment News - And Finally

Metro, 6 December 2007

Teachers have condemned the excessive pressure of national tests for driving schools to cheat after a string of primaries were stripped of their results for breaking the rules.

Official inquiries at five schools in England uncovered malpractice in the national curriculum "Sats" tests taken by 11-year-olds.

Four of the schools saw all their results wiped out in all three subjects of English, maths and science. A fifth school was stripped of its English results.

Read more ...

E-newsletter feedback

Let us know what you think of the e-newsletter and any features you'd like to see in future issues. If you're feeling creative and would like to contribute an article, please send an email to info@ioea.org.uk. Until next time...

If you like this newsletter and think that a friend or colleague would benefit from membership of the IEA then please feel free to forward this newsletter.

Unsubscribe If you wish to unsubscribe to this newsletter then please email unsubscribe@ioea.org.uk

© Institute of Educational Assessors 2007 / Privacy policy / Terms conditions of use / Copyright