A journey towards Formative Assessment in PE lessons

A journey towards Formative Assessment in PE lessons (Fairfield Methodist Secondary School)

We have probably heard the saying, “Teaching does not equate to learning”. In the teaching of Physical Education, this can be easily evident as students need to demonstrate skills or concepts. When we teach softball, we can see that some students may not know when to run the bases and we can hear their friends shouting at them to stop or continue running. Conversely, students may be able to tell you when they should run but cannot execute batting well. This scenario prompted a soul-searching journey for myself and eventually, the department.

Experimentation / Exploration (period of personal reflection and trials)

In the past few years prior to 2019, we carried out theory and skills assessments that were summative in nature. Although summative assessment was done and students may get a grade to demonstrate accountability in the teaching of Physical Education, there was a seemingly missing piece of how the students can use this data. It started in 2019 when I returned from a Teacher Work Attachment (TWA) to Physical Education and Sports Teacher Academy (PESTA). I experimented with and explored ways of Assessment for Learning before the Assessment Resource Guide (ARG) was rolled out. The school had the support of PESTA via the school support programme. PESTA officers co-developed, co-taught and co-reviewed the lessons and lesson resources. The tools used were not unfamiliar to all. We had been using Plickers, Heat Map, Tally Counts etc.

During the school support programme, we tried ways and means to capture students’ learning. At this time, the school was exploring the eight cultural forces in Ron Ritchart’s ‘Cultures of Thinking’. The cultural forces guided and formed the underpinning principles to make thinking in Physical Education visible. One of the cultural forces, ‘Time’ calls for time to be set aside for students to think. Rowe (1986) explains that "to grow a complex thought system requires a great deal of shared experiences and conversations. In talking about what we have done and observed, and in arguing about what we make of our experiences, ideas multiply, become refined, and finally produce new questions and further explorations.

This brought about a potential conflict of addressing the limited time PE teachers have. It became paramount for the team to develop routines, whereby effective active learning time in Physical Education (ALT-PE) was not compromised. Students were visibly puzzled by this additional rigor placed upon them as every student now needs to account for their learning through self or peer-assessed platforms. All these did not deter the team’s desire to explore and build on this as we believed that Assessment and Feedback–one of the Four Pedagogical Practices in the Singapore Teaching Practice (STP)--is essential and crucial to the student’s development.

Emergence of ARG (providing greater alignment and buy-in through leveraging ARG)

Coincidentally, the ARG was rolled out in 2019, and this played a crucial part in addressing some of the skepticism amongst department teachers and was also helpful in building confidence as they began to grapple with the guiding principles and rationale articulated. While there were still many pending issues with the rollout of the document and workshops, it did bring about a new wave of interest as we tried to decipher the ARG and its intent in our Professional Learning Time (PLT). Meaningful discourse was evident in the PLTs.

We had to ask ourselves

Why do we want to do AfL?
What data to collect?
How does the data help us?
Who uses the data?
When do we do an assessment?
How do we save time?

Clarifications also needed to be made with Physical, Sports & Outdoor Education Branch (PSOEB). Plenty of learning took place for the students and the department as we embarked on this journey together.

Above: AfL Data_ Shooting Map Around the Key 2D Basketball

Enabling the Department (purposeful discussions with the support of the leadership)

With the support of the school leadership and the Head of Department for PE, the focus shifted from being a school support initiative to a departmental approach. The department pressed on in this journey despite the numerous uncertainties. The questions we asked helped us to design and reflect on our practices. When we asked ourselves why, it caused us to check our fundamental beliefs and challenge our assumptions. PE is a powerful vehicle to enhance the students’ learning in both the physical and cognitive aspects.

Next, we needed to craft tools that would be meaningful for the students and teachers. With continual PLT sessions of evidence-based AfL sessions conducted by the school support, it helped to change the mental model of the department, member by member. Slowly but surely, the department was won over. We had to decide on the readiness of the class, the type of AfL to administer, how we use the data and what routines to implement to ensure a lesson with maximum active movement time allocated. With the coronavirus accelerating the need for teachers to pivot to online platforms, our PE department rose to the occasion to use e-Pedagogy to enhance learning. Five years on, it is now a common sight for teachers to expect students to describe and explain their thinking and actions, and for students to analyze peers and themselves as the school embraces a culture of learning in PE that goes beyond the physical skills.

Above: Thinking routines in PE lesson.

Efficacy through Collective Approach (powerful effects in learning for students and colleagues)

Although the journey started with an issue, it progressed to nurturing critical and reflective PE practitioners. Changes are always met with resistance, but the key is to always spend time having academic discourse, challenge the existing norm, experiment and learn how best to move forward to benefit the students and department. When a team of individuals share the belief that through their unified efforts, they can overcome challenges and produce intended results, the group becomes stronger and the belief grows. When educators believe in their combined ability to influence student outcomes, there are significantly higher levels of academic achievement (Bandura, 1993). Bandura named this human pattern as “collective efficacy”. Bandura defined it as “a group’s shared belief in its conjoint capability to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given levels of attainment” (Bandura, 1997). Hence, here at Fairfield, we hope to produce flourishing communities of students and staff.

Above: Capturing student's learning in Padlet for badminton PE lesson.

Above: Team Whiteboard to explain decision in Softball

Above: Capturing the challenges faced by Colleagues that was evident from the start of the AfL journey

Article Contributed by:

Jason Lum is currently a Lead Teacher (PE) in Fairfield Methodist Secondary School. He was formerly holding the appointment of Subject Head in the same school.

Email: lum_tuck_choi_jason@moe.edu.sg

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