«Grades are not a suitable feedback tool»

Mr Moser, how has Curriculum 21 changed the school assessment system?

Curriculum 21 did not bring about any fundamental reforms in this respect. However, it placed the principle of competence orientation at the centre, which is why assessment has become an issue.

In what way?

For each subject area, Curriculum 21 describes the competences that children should acquire in the course of primary school - learning objectives organised into levels that build on each other. Such a structure suggests that testing and assessment should also be carried out in this way. However, this is not the case. Strictly speaking, grades and a focus on competences are a contradiction in terms.

You need to explain that in more detail.

Examinations test the subject matter of the previous weeks or months. Learners receive a grade for this - which one depends on the overall performance of the class. Grades therefore relate to the lessons of a particular teacher and are based on the standard of the corresponding class. They therefore do not allow for statements to be made across classes or schools and have limited information value with regard to the question of which of the relevant competences a child has achieved in the respective learning cycle. A competence-orientated performance assessment should look different.

Namely?

According to the curriculum, the purpose of competence-orientation is that pupils should not only be able to recall what they have learnt selectively, but should also be able to apply it in different contexts throughout their learning development. To assess how well they can do this, a learning assessment is not enough. What is needed is an individualised assessment that shows the child's level of competence.

What could such an assessment tool look like?

We have developed something similar with Mindsteps. The online platform for skills-based learning has been in use since 2019 and offers schools a collection of over 60,000 tasks for German, English, French and maths. The tasks cover all subjects from third primary to third secondary school. We have developed a large number of tasks for each competency required by Curriculum 21 for the relevant learning cycle. The difficulty is that competences are a linguistic matter: You first have to translate them, i.e. use tasks to define what the corresponding competence means in concrete terms. The tasks are mapped on a vertical scale, as are the learners' results. This makes it possible to measure where the learner stands with regard to the respective competence.

You have therefore developed a competence-orientated test.

We struggle with the name of the test. Mindsteps is designed to provide pupils with objective feedback on their learning progress. To do this, they complete several tasks - the ones they feel ready for. The idea is for classes to use the tool regularly for practising and testing. With Mindsteps, we want two things above all: to make progress, i.e. learning, visible - students need to know what success looks like. And also to generate information that is independent of the classroom context. As we know, grades are not. They are also not a suitable feedback tool because they do not provide task-related feedback. A number says little about where I am particularly good or still need to practise.

Yes, the selection mandate is at odds with the promotion mandate. Nevertheless, the school must fulfil it.

There would be no need for grades if assessment tools like yours were able to objectively measure learning progress.

To a certain extent, this is true. But a school's judgement cannot be based on such results alone. Firstly, such an instrument only reflects a limited part of what Curriculum 21 requires. Secondly, the teacher's perspective is important for various reasons. Not least because someone needs to take responsibility for the judgement. Report card grades do not simply reflect a moment in time. They contain - albeit imprecise - information about the direction in which things are heading. You could also replace numbers with words, but this task cannot be delegated.

Calls for the abolition of grades are becoming ever louder.

On the one hand, I understand the concern. There are better feedback tools that are more conducive to learning and support. On the other hand, teachers have the task of organising the transfer to secondary schools and providing appropriate assessments. Yes, the selection mandate is at odds with the promotion mandate. Nevertheless, the school must not let it go completely. They must fulfil it and at some point be able to decide who goes to grammar school or not, to give an example. The demand for grammar school in particular is so great that it would not be able to regulate itself.

However, many argue that later selection would improve equality of opportunity.

Yes, you can consider whether it makes sense to divide children into performance groups after the sixth primary class. I started my career as a researcher in 1996 with this question.

How do you answer them today?

I don't think it's bad how things work in the canton of Zurich, for example: After six years of primary school, those who are suitably motivated can sit the entrance exam for grammar school. Two or three years later there is another opportunity to do so. You therefore have three chances to progress to the highest level. However, there is little mobility within the different performance levels at secondary school. There is a tendency to stay where you were placed after year six. This is problematic - although to be honest, I'm not sure whether later selection, for example after the eighth grade, would change much.

If you want to combat social inequalities, you have to start elsewhere; you won't achieve any significant improvement through school structures alone.

Why not?

If you look at the scientific data on the benefits of later selection, the corresponding evidence - the many advantages - cannot be proven as clearly as is always claimed. The matter is not so simple because parents and teachers behave similarly in different school systems. What I can say after more than two decades of research on the subject: If you want to combat social inequalities, you have to start elsewhere; you won't achieve any significant improvement through school structures alone.

What helps then?

Firstly, much more needs to be invested in the development of teaching when it comes to counteracting stereotypes. We know that teachers expect less from children from less privileged families, which results in corresponding judgements. Independent assessment systems are needed. Secondly, research shows that children from underprivileged families need support that starts well before school. However, I know of few programmes that really work where they should.

I was involved in the development of several projects for more equal opportunities - in which families did not ultimately participate in the way we had expected. The educational expectations that parents have of their children are a decisive factor in social inequalities, and it is relatively difficult to influence these. To be honest, I no longer hold on to the hope that later selection will bring us more equal opportunities.