Abstract
This article analyses aspects of the process of developing ‘functional’ assessments of mathematics at the end of compulsory schooling in England. A protocol that was developed for scrutinising assessment items is presented. This protocol includes an indicator of the ‘authenticity’ of each assessment item. The data are drawn from scrutiny of 589 assessment items from thirty-nine formal unseen examinations taken by students aged sixteen, and the article illustrates ways that mathematics is presented in different contexts in examinations. We suggest that currently the ‘human face’ of the questions may serve to disguise routine calculations, and we argue that, in formal examinations, connections between mathematics assessments situated in context and functional mathematics have yet to be established.
Highlights
The relationships between schooling and the subsequent contribution that citizens make to the economy is of direct interest to all countries, and forms a major part of a globalised education policy discourse (Rizvi and Lingard 2010)
This article results from work scrutinising mathematics school examination items undertaken as part of a project evaluating school mathematics qualifications and addresses the current enterprise of assessing functional mathematics in school examinations (e.g. Burkhart 2007), in particular discussing tensions that arise when mathematics in examinations is put into the context of real life
Educators and assessors may well agree with a broad and future-oriented definition of functional mathematics such as that provided in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) framework which states that mathematical assessment should: focus on real-world problems, moving beyond the kinds of situations and problems typically encountered in school classrooms
Summary
The relationships between schooling and the subsequent contribution that citizens make to the economy is of direct interest to all countries, and forms a major part of a globalised education policy discourse (Rizvi and Lingard 2010). Rather than consider student responses, we draw on data obtained by using the protocol to discuss the humanising of mathematics assessment items and show qualitatively that introducing humans into assessments items does not square with the problem solving that functionality requires. The data presented is drawn from scrutiny of 2008 and 2009 examination papers taken in England at the end of compulsory schooling by students generally aged 16. This examination is called the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), and spans levels 1 and 2 in a national framework of qualifications that runs from Entry level to level 8i, where, in terms of higher education, level 6 represents honours degree achievement and level 8 represents doctoral level. Candidates in the range G – D at GCSE are considered unsuccessful at level 2 but successful at level 1
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