Another teacher used an initial diagnostic process that incorporated the Adult Literacy Achievement Framework (ALAF).
| T: | They have a diagnostic interview and we just collect background information
really, like what’s their school backgrounds, how did they feel about
school, what was their learning like and their language background, is English
a first language or a second language. And also, they self-assess too, what
do they feel their needs are in reading and writing and numeracy and organisation
skills, so it’s a self-assessment. Then we show them some pictures
and they choose a picture and write about it for ten minutes and we have
a set of readings at different ALAF levels, so they have a series of pictures
and they write about. And then for the reading, we have a series of readings
at a different ALAF levels and people choose which one they’re comfortable
with reading, and then we match those to the draft ALAF. We use it all the
time, we find it really helpful.
And at the end of each block of nine weeks, I listen to everyone read individually again, against two sets, and they read again at the level they were at, and we look at whether they can move up to the next level, and they try the next one. So, all the time their progress is matched against the ALAF. That way we can really see if they’re really making progress. From the profiling we can see what their gaps are and then what’s next, and then I write where they are in the profile, what their strengths are and so where your next step is, past tense, full-stops, whatever it is, that’s what I want them to work on. |
In the workplace programmes, company-wide needs assessments had been done and learner assessments done in relation to the broader assessment exercise.
Individual Learning Plans have been promoted and increasingly used in literacy, numeracy and language programmes in New Zealand. Typically, an Individual Learning Plan will include biographical details about the learner, their personal details, results of initial and subsequent assessments and some record of their goals in attending the programme, including unit standards. They are intended primarily as an on-going record of a learner’s needs and subsequent achievements. While there is no research available on their use or value per se, there has been some debate in the international literature28 in recent months about their value.
About half of the teachers in this study used some form of Individual Learning Plan. Some of the teachers who use ILPs follow them very closely. One 1:1 teacher said that she used them not only to plan her teaching, but has found that they were also an invaluable way of demonstrating progress to her learners.
28 See for example, the October 2004 issue of reflect, the NRDC’s magazine.