ABSTRACT
Introduction Assessment is an extremely topical and important issue in education at the present time and it is one that is the subject of international debate. In the United Kingdom, changes in assessment practice have affected all stages of education. James (1996), for example, suggests that from early years education through to adult education the purposes, content, form and methods of assessment are the subject of reflection, analysis and modification. James lists the following examples to illustrate the range of the current assessment debate as it currently effects all levels of the education service:
• the assessment of young children entering school, including 'baseline' assessment; • the introduction of National Curriculum assessment and testing for school pupils from 5 to 14 in England
and Wales and comparable arrangements in Scotland and Northern Ireland; • the diagnostic assessment of children with special educational needs for the purposes of statementing and
the allocation of special resource provision; • the nature and value of examinations at 16+, especially coursework elements in the GCSE; • the construction and use of league tables of test and examination results and the relative advantages and
disadvantages of 'raw' or 'valueadded' versions; • the development of vocational assessment post 16 (NVQs and GNVQs) and the relationship with the
academic 'gold standard' of A levels; • the assessment of modular courses in further and higher education and the accreditation of prior learning
(APL) and prior experiential learning (APEL); • work-based assessment and performance appraisal.
