Senior secondary school teachers who provide the ‘big picture’ about their subjects ensure success for final exams, says a school assessment expert.
Teaching teachers to be prepared for external exams as Queensland moves toward a major overhaul of senior school assessment by 2019, is a key priority for Dr Judy Smeed, from the Faculty of Education’s School of Professional Learning.
QUT will host a discussion forum about external examinations with input from key Australian education experts Thursday, September 15, at Kelvin Grove campus, W201, from 5pm to 7pm.
“Testing is beneficial if the results are analysed and used by schools to drive improvements,” Dr Smeed said.
“A good external exam teacher isn’t someone who ‘crams’ all the information into students ahead of the test but is someone who can continually and broadly relate the topic to the exam.
“Exceptional external exam teachers muddy the waters and ask ‘what if’ so students are forced to draw on their overall knowledge.”
Dr Smeed is a strong advocate for external exams which will be reintroduced to Queensland’s school system for Year 11s and 12s after a 40-year absence, starting with Year 11s in 2018.
“It will bring Queensland into line with other states and assess capabilities of the individual students,” Dr Smeed said.
“Exams signal accomplishment and have real consequences for students and reputations of schools.”
In maths and science, students will have half their final year’s marks decided by one external exam, while in other subjects, the external assessment will represent 25 per cent of their overall result.
More than 250 Queensland schools began a trial of the external assessments in May and June this year.
Pre-service secondary school teachers are being taught at QUT during their third year to expand their professional experience and learn how to be an effective exam teacher.
“Good teachers find out what students don’t know and teach them so they will know,” Dr Smeed explained.
Dr Smeed’s teaching tips for what makes a good external exam teacher:-
- Whole class questioning is frequently used
- Build blocks for new layers of knowledge
- Make links to other parts of the curriculum
- Backed up the information with notes
- Use different types of questions for the whole class as compared to one-on-one
With 40 years teaching experience, Dr Smeed is known as the ‘data guru’ and regularly travels to schools in regional Queensland and interstate to help raise literacy and numeracy standards.
To read Dr Judy Smeed's published papers in Education journals click here
Media contacts:
Debra Nowland, QUT media officer (Mon/Wed/Thur), 07 3138 1150 or media@qut.edu.au
After hours, Rose Trapnell, 0407 585 901
