Creativity and Arts Assessment in Curriculum Reform: Patterns of Assessment Design, Preparation and Course Delivery in Key Stage 2, 3 and 4

Assessment is recognised as a key driver of teaching and learning, and 'assessment for learning' has become a major focus of educational reform in Hong Kong. Teaching and learning are very often geared towards the form and content of assessment, and teachers often treat assessment as a separate component of the curriculum. High-stakes standardised examinations can also create distortions in the goals and foci of teaching. Whilst creativity is usually associated with Music and Visual Arts, there have been criticisms of uncreative approaches to arts assessment. The two main objectives of the proposed project are: (1) to develop an empirical model that explains the relationship between the assessment of arts learning and the patterns of test design, test preparation and course delivery and (2) to investigate the 'values' placed by Hong Kong students and teachers on arts assessment and the extent to which arts teachers are driven by, and have adjusted their assessment practices to take account of, creativity in curriculum reform. It will also identify the models and principles of 'good' design in arts assessment and the effective forms/types of assessment that encompass creativity as a learning outcome in Music and Visual Arts. This mixed-method study will involve an analysis of the design of assessment tasks and the selection of assessment criteria, focus group interviews, case studies of Hong Kong schools and a survey of primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, UK and Australia. Descriptive and multivariate statistics will also be used. The results of this study are expected to provide deeper insights into the extent to which different forms of arts assessment embody creativity and how these practices are valued by teachers and learners. They will also contribute to the limited research available that addresses teachers' beliefs about the nature of creativity and assessment in the creative arts.

Funding Source: RGC - General Research Fund (GRF)