Goldsmiths - University of London

Context

The Assessment of Performance Unit (APU) was the major research arm of the Department for Education and Science (DES) during the 1970s and 1980s. Its purpose was to survey school populations to identify national capability levels. Surveys of English, Mathematics, Science and Modern Foreign Languages had been undertaken on a rolling basis. In 1981 a working party explored the idea of undertaking such a survey of Design and Technology. Following exploratory work undertaken by the National Centre for School Technology, a contract was awarded to Goldsmiths to undertake a full survey.

Focus

The brief for the research was to investigate the design and technological capability of 15 year olds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, by assessing a 2% sample of the population (10,000 learners). A pilot was conducted in 1987 and the full survey in 1988. Three forms of assessment were developed

• 90 minute 'paper and pencil' tests
• 150 minute 'modelling' tests
• case studies of full, extended projects.

Outcomes

The project resulted in a 6 hour activity structure that could be used across all material areas in d&t and an assessment framework that identified qualities and criteria for assessing creative, innovative performance. One Awarding Body is now piloting a GCSE exam based on the work and a follow-up project - the e-scape project - has taken the work forward through exploring the development and use of on-task e-portfolios.