The Essay
Unlocking Deeper Learning
Portfolio-based assessments & experiential learning can supplement exam-based assessments.
By Kadambari Rana, Educator, Consultant & Columnist
India’s earliest systems of education comprised of gurus who taught in gurukuls and ashrams amidst nature. Later, these systems of education got institutionalised and gave birth to famous universities such as Takshila and Nalanda where education was designed to address the uniqueness in each student.
Indian educationists, such as Sri Aurobindo, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Tarabai Modak and Anutai Wagh, worked relentlessly to revive the true Indian spirit; which is deeply invested in gaining perspective about the material, the mental, the moral, the physical and the spiritual aspects of life.
In comparison to that, currently, Indian schooling system is defined less by intellectual infrastructure and values and more by physical infrastructure, obdurate pedagogy, imported curriculums and unyielding certification culture.
Whatever may be the context or times, the role of a school is to go beyond the realms of technical knowledge and basic skills and bring forth the innate capability of each child.
Current Scenario
India is characterised by a system of education which is enormous in terms of absolute number of schools, school going children and diversity in curriculum.
The curriculum options range from the National NIOS, CBSE, ICSE and State Boards to International Boards such as IB and IGCSE. All these boards of education are characterised by their exclusive curriculum structures, methods of delivery and assessment systems.
In India, external exams, popularly known as the board exams have been a widely used yardstick to validate a student’s competence. This form of assessment cannot be considered entirely evil and written off because it does ensure, to some extent, homogeneousness in minimum skills sets acquired at every progressive stage during the schooling years.
Therefore, external exam system continues to be a popular assessment choice not only for national boards but also for international boards. The difference is only in the way the journey takes place. Another reason why exam is a popular choice of assessment for most boards is due to paucity of time to assess the multi-dimensionality of each student, voluminous syllabus, high student population and poorly trained educators.
The solution infact does not lie in doing away with exams per say but in making them age -appropriate, offering varied formats in testing, creating internal assessments which prioritize critical thinking and application to real world scenarios over memorization.
Portfolio-based assessments, experiential learning and competency-based evaluation offer a transformative alternative- fostering deeper understanding, creativity and adaptability. As global education shifts towards skill-based learning, these methods will empower students with practical knowledge and lifelong competencies.
Assessment Objectives: International Boards:
The International Baccalaureate (IB) assesses student learning through various objectives, which may differ slightly depending on the specific program (PYP, MYP, DP, or CP). However, here are the main assessment objectives in IB: The Diploma Programme assesses knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation.
The Middle Years Programme assesses knowing, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating, creating. The Primary Years Programme focuses on form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective, reflection.
Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) has various assessment objectives across its different programs and qualifications. Cambridge IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) assesses knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, evaluation, synthesis.
Cambridge International AS and A Level assesses knowledge and understanding, application and analysis, evaluation and synthesis, critical thinking and problem-solving. Cambridge O Level assesses knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, evaluation. Cambridge Pre-U assesses knowledge and understanding, critical thinking and problem-solving, analysis and evaluation, synthesis and application.
Creating common ground: Normalisation of marks across boards
In India, students from different boards apply for college admissions. They are competing and therefore compared during such admissions. Since evaluation systems and assessment components are different across different boards therefore during admissions, colleges and universities come up with certain methods to make these scores comparable.
Normalisation of marks is a method where average marks from each board are taken and adjusted to a common scale, then there is the percentile method which ranks students within their respective boards and then compares the percentiles with others from a different board. This ensures differences in marking patterns between boards is taken care of.
Entrance exams provide a common platform for students from different boards to compete and display common minimum understanding of subjects and concepts. All India Exams scores are those pertaining to Indian boards such as CBSE and ISC and scores are compared and admissions sought as per cut-offs.
Academic transcripts, interviews and extra-curricular achievements are other factors impacting the results of such comparisons and admission results.
New Education Policy (NEP): Proposed assessment reforms in India
The New Education Policy 2020 emphasises on transforming assessment for optimizing learning and development of all students with a focus on the following features of assessment; regular, formative and competency-based, promote learning and development of students, focuses on assessment for learning, tests higher-order skills (analysis, critical thinking and conceptual clarity).
The NEP has proposed to transform the culture of assessment and ensure; continuous tracking of learning outcome of each child, board examinations to be made more flexible with assessment of essential skills, assessment to focus on core concepts, higher order and foundational skill, AI based soft wares to help track progress of students.
Board exams are being redesigned to encourage holistic development by way of discouraging coaching culture and exam preparation. Students will be given freedom to choose range of subjects in which they take Board exams, depending on their individualised interests. Board exams be made easier in the sense that they test primarily core capacities/ competencies rather than content memorization.
All students will be allowed to take Board exams on up to two occasions during any given school year, one main examination and one for improvement to eliminate the high stakes aspect of Board exams. To reduce pressure and coaching culture, boards will develop further viable models of board exams such as annual/semester/modular board exams or in certain subject’s question paper may be redesigned to have two parts-one parts of an objective type with MCQs and the other of a descriptive type
National Curriculum Framework (NCF)
The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for the Foundational Stage is developed based on the vision of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, India, and to enable its implementation. The Foundational Stage, also commonly called early childhood, refers to children in the age group of 3 to 8 years, across the entire array of diverse educational institutes in India.
This is the first Stage in the 5+3+3+4 Curricular and Pedagogical restructuring of School Education as envisioned in NEP 2020. The NCF is a key component of the NEP (2020). The NCF emphasizes the importance of play based learning, also previously mentioned in the NEP 2020, for overall growth and development of the child.
NCF is an informed document. It is the collective knowledge and wisdom of over 10 lakh interested citizens including students and parents, over 1.3 lakh teachers and educationists from across the country, over 1550 district level consultations from 32 States and Union Territories, and 35 groups of institutions.
These consultations are in addition to over 500 papers on 25 specifically relevant themes written by groups constituted by the States and Union Territories which all together had over 4000 experts, and 25 papers on these themes developed by expert groups with over 175 members, constituted by the National Council for Educational Research and Training.
Learning Assessment to Enable Learning: United Nations
Excerpt from document titled Learning Assessment at UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization states that, ‘’Learning assessment is part of evaluating and monitoring education more broadly. It refers to a wide range of methods and tools used to evaluate, measure and document learning outcomes and learning progress.
It is about gathering information from multiple sources on what learners know and what they can do with what they have learnt. It also provides information on the process and context that enable learning, as well as those that may be hindering the learning process. Learning assessment can address the needs of a range of actors – including learners and their families, teachers and school-administrators, policy and decision makers, donors and society.
Learning assessment is therefore not an end in itself. Regardless of its purpose, scope, object or nature, it is conducted with the ultimate goal of improving equity and learning for individuals, communities and society.’’