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Assessment fit for the future

The theme of this conference is ‘,Assessment for the Future Generations’,. Implicit in this theme are ideas about meeting the needs of our current students, who will be the next generation, and those of those who follow them.Much of our contemporary debate about preparing for the future is about how we develop and use our resources in a way that will leave a constructive legacy for future generations. This focuses on the sustainability of the earth’,s resources and on finding alternative technologies to prevent the further depletion of some natural resources. How do we reduce global warming so that future generations are not faced with environmental crises around water and extreme conditions? What can we do to reduce our dependence on oil? In this context what might sustainable assessment look like –, assessment that constructivelyprepares students for the future, rather than simply repeating wasteful patterns from the past?David Boud has described sustainable assessment in terms of: Any assessment act must contribute in some way to learning beyond the immediate task...assessment that meets the needs of the present and prepares students to meet theirown future needs. (2000, pp.8‐,9)Boud has developed this argument through his valuable concept of the double duty of assessment, in which assessment activities ‘,have to focus on the immediate task and on implications for equipping students for lifelong learning in an unknown future...they must attend to both the process and substantive content domain’, (2002, p.9). Simply assessing for the here‐,and‐,now (assessment as a‘,snapshot’,) is insufficient if nothing is carried forward, so too is process‐,based learning (for example, ‘,learning to learn’,, ‘,critical thinking’,) if there is no substantive learning in the here‐,and‐,now. My intention in this paper is to develop this line of argument in relation to our current assessment practices so that we can begin to develop more sustainable ways of assessment, ways which not only offer a dependable assessment of current learning but also help students develop their own assessment resources. I focus on external assessments such as public examinations and national tests, but a fuller treatment of this theme would also consider how might also develop sustainable ,informal classroom assessment.

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