Teacher workshop on Competency - Based Assessment

The Indian School held a capacity building workshop for teachers on 26 June 2023. It was conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (India). The resource persons for the workshop were Ms Dimple Sood, research officer and subject expert ( science) and Ms Shreevarshini K., subject expert (English).

The objective of the workshop was to acquaint teachers with the various methods of assessing the students abilities using competency- based parameters. With an aim to part with

traditional ways of assessment, that include ranks and percentage, the resource persons engaged the teachers through activities which can be used in the class to assess students.

The interactive session began with the participants introducing themselves, along with giving a brief description of the subject they teach and what they like about it. The ice breaking session was followed by an activity which required the teachers to jot down and later share the survival measures they would take if they were stranded on a remote island, without any resources. The answers given by the teachers were varied but they all proved that the measures taken by any individual depend upon the application of prior knowledge and skills that they have developed over the years.

Further, the differences between competency-based learning and curriculum-based learning were brought to the fore by Ms Sood. The challenges with traditional assessment were also discussed. Some of these challenges include variations in the abilities of students and the failure of traditional assessment in revealing their real progress. A fun recapitulation session brought out the child in the teachers as they enjoyed a snap and clap activity, while answering questions asked by Ms Sood.

The second session was conducted by Ms Shreevarshini, who discussed in detail, the PISA

(Programme for International Student Assessment), which is an international study that began in 2000. The teachers were informed in detail about reading, mathematical and scientific competencies as given under PISA. The next engaging activity helped teachers to classify questions related to their subjects, under different PISA competency levels. The interactive discussion was based on aligning NCERT learning outcomes to PISA competencies.

The teachers were divided into groups according to their subjects and asked to create competency- based items. This final activity was aimed at checking the teachers understanding of the PISA competencies and learning outcomes.

The teachers came up with a variety of questions that ranged from selected responses (MCQ, true and false) to constructed response questions (fill in the blanks and short and long answer questions).

The workshop was very engaging and informative as it helped teachers gain a different perspective and enhance their knowledge on addressing the varied needs of students.