Education Commons^™

It is now widely recognised that, when performances are evaluated only in terms of measurable results, employees and organisations find ways to ‘game’ the system. Hospitals improve patient survival rates by taking fewer high risk patients; companies maximise short-term returns to shareholders by not investing in long-term growth strategies. And in extreme cases, a narrow focus on results produces corrupt behaviour – for example, manipulating a company’s financial results to make its performance look better than it is. There are obvious lessons in this experience for current efforts to improve educational outcomes. Following the model adopted in business, education systems …

Advances in our understanding of human learning require new approaches to assessing and monitoring student learning. Much assessment thinking has changed little over the past fifty years. The field continues to be dominated by twentieth century introductory textbook concepts, including such dichotomies as formative versus summative assessment, criterion-referenced versus norm-referenced testing, quantitative versus qualitative assessment, informal versus formal assessment – distinctions that often hamper rather than promote clear thinking about assessment. Assessment practice also has changed little over this period. Traditional, high-stakes examinations continue to dominate what is taught and learnt in many of our schools and universities. Greater use …

Success in most fields of endeavour depends on an ability to visualise success. It has long been known that elite athletes mentally rehearse each performance prior to its execution. Advances in neuroscience show why this may be so important: the neurological processes involved in visualising a performance are almost identical to those involved in the performance itself. Indeed, simply watching somebody else perform activates ‘mirror’ neurons in the observer paralleling neuronal activity in the performer. The ability to visualise success and an accompanying belief that success is possible appear to be prerequisites for most forms of human achievement.