What’s in a Mark? Knowing the Learner to Grow the Learner

Dr Christine Lambrianidis | Director of Teaching and Learning

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet wonders longingly, ‘What’s in a name?’ Many associate this famous balcony scene line with teen love and underestimate the philosophical dimension of this question: how do words function symbolically? And how do these symbols corrupt truth?

In the beginning of the twentieth century, Ferdinand de Saussure, a linguist, created a way of studying signs in social and cultural life. Modern Semiotics was about defining signs in two parts: the signifier, usually words, and the signified, the meaning of these words. Charles Sanders Peirce created categories for these signs:

• Indexical: This is a sign that indicates or refers to something beyond itself. For example, a doctor sees red dots (indexical sign) on a patient and knows the patient has measles.

• Iconic: This is a photograph, a painting or any text that attempts to reproduce reality.

• Arbitrary, Conventional or Symbolic: These are signs that are culturally constructed, for example plus signs +, percentage signs % or music notes.

To Peirce, signs could also be motivated where the signifier determines the signified or unmotivated where the signifier refers to many things.

In every industry, signs are used to assess performance, and education is no different with marks or grades as key achievement indicators. For some students, these signs are brutally indexical, shaping their future pathway; for some schools, they influence enrolments.  Universities also rely on them as a quick and inexpensive way to select candidates. And yet, most research on assessment, from Dylan William to John Hattie, shows that marks can have a detrimental effect on learning. Instead, specific and timely feedback on performance remains the most effective way to guarantee growth and improvement.

Feedback, however, is only useful if a student acts on it. William constantly reminds us of this in his work on formative assessment. Feedback should aim to change the student, not just the work. He writes:

To give effective feedback, the teacher needs to know the student – to understand what feedback the student needs right now. And to receive feedback, in a meaningful way, the student needs to trust the teacher – to believe that the teacher knows what he or she is talking about and has the student’s best interest at heart (The Secret to Effective Feedback, p.15).

A relationship built on trust guarantees feedback is both understood and actioned. For every learner, taking a cognitive risk or simply trying something new, is inspired by their teacher. All humans work for leaders they truly believe in.

At Westbourne, our teaching and learning focus this year is Know the Learner, Grow the Learner. This begins with truly knowing the learner. This is not only about what learners can or cannot do, but who they are as individuals. Understanding the person behind the mark allows us to recognise them as unique thinkers with the capacity to learn more and learn better. A student may not be able to punctuate their writing correctly yet but knowing that they are thriving in a co-curricular activity, like theatre, helps build rapport and connection. This knowledge then shapes how we give feedback: with care, relevance and sometimes even through the right metaphor relevant to their world. We grow learners by knowing them first; only then can we use our expertise to understand and develop their thinking.

As expert teachers we guide our novice learners by collaboratively:

• understanding the different levels of performance

• applying this understanding consistently in assessment practices

• reviewing these understandings and practices

Marks or grades function as motivated signs: they only indicate current performance. This information is useful as a starting point but cannot be used to improve performance as the core function of grades is to give a snapshot of past performance. Grades are not interested in future performance. This is where feedback is integral as it strives to improve learning.

In some cases, grades distract learners from learning. Students focus on these signs obsessively and not what they are attempting to master. Lawrence and D’Angostin argue that ‘intrinsic motivation is creating a desire to learn, to be involved in school, that is not driven by the chasing of grades’ (p.152). For some schools, grades need to be taken away to make room for learning. Nossal High School, a leading Selective Entry School in the South-Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, removed grades from their reporting system, sighting that highly able learners are stunted by grades. For other schools, such as Wesley College and St Michael’s, investing in assessing micro-credentials such as collaboration and creativity through the New Metric Partnerships, is one way to assessing essential future skills.

At Westbourne, our Middle School Assessment framework is about reporting on the learning journey of our students. Teaching teams intentionally select three moments of learning to share with parents that represent a whole semester of learning. Through inheriting our Junior School’s triangulation of data approach and our Senior School’s rigorous moderation processes, reported assessment at our Middle School strives to strengthen parents as partners in learning through specific feedback that is not just about what a learner has done, but what they should do next.

For Juliet, she knew the name ‘Montague’ meant more than enemy. Shakespeare also knew that societies ruled by names alone would end tragically. At Westbourne, we know grades are important indexical signs that serve a purpose, but we know our learners are more than grades and that our core purpose is to know our learners and grow our learners.