Building a Strong Assessment Culture in Schools: A Situational Analysis

Ensuring effective learning and teaching requires a strong assessment culture in schools where teachers and students are supported to use assessment to increase student outcomes. However, building a strong assessment culture requires a deeper analysis of the personal, social-emotional, conceptual, paradigmatic, practical, contextual, structural, organisational and policy contexts of the school to determine the best strategies to implement to achieve the aims of the reforms. This protocol paper demonstrates how we will help schools develop their assessment culture. We will use situational analysis to explore the various elements influencing the school’s assessment culture to gain an in-depth understanding of the situation. In addition, we will use activity theory to understand the patterns of social activities and the relationships of various elements to develop a strong assessment culture.