With boys in Year 11 WACE and Year 12 IB and WACE courses receiving examination results back over the coming days, a valuable opportunity exists to discuss progress, effort and goals for the coming semester. This is particularly important for boys in Year 12 as they commence their last semester at Scotch College.
Following the recent Year 11 and 12 WACE examinations some teachers have observed a student culture that focuses on the level of achievement. Boys can often be heard saying, "What did I (you) get?" or receiving an examination back and focusing immediately on the result, understandably, however, then not taking time to establish how the grade was determined.
When boys complete examinations or submit assessment tasks it is important that the areas requiring improvement have been addressed. Not only should boys be interested in the grade, they should focus on the comments. The grade measures what they already know, the comment serves to improve learning.
When discussing your son's examination result or an assignment, avoid asking, "What mark did you get?" Rather, discuss elements of the assessment task that your son perceives to have performed well in and ask him to identify areas that may be improved in future efforts. By asking boys to reflect and make judgements about their work, learning is enhanced. The critical reference points for learning is your son's own prior work and the aspirations and goals for future learning, not how he compared to others in the class or cohort. We should be interested not only in evaluating how competent a student may be, but how competent he may become.
Dr Rob McEwan
Head of Senior School
