Compiling a Program Rationale - Help for Teachers

stage 1 assessment plans • stage 2 assessment plans
assessment plan guidelines for stage 1 and stage 2

Introduction

The purpose of this is to help teachers of Stage 1, and a number of Stage 2 subjects, with the thinking behind, and the compilation of, the program rationale that sets the scene for an assessment plan.

The program rationale is a response to the question every teacher asks when beginning with a new group of students, "How am I going to work with this class this year?"

The rationale is a statement of how the subject (as described in the curriculum statement) has been interpreted and developed in a teaching, learning and assessment program to suit a particular student cohort and school setting. This will then determine the nature of the assessment plan. An assessment plan should be flexible and should cater for student diversity. It may be subject to some change during the program.

Program Rationale Guidelines

As teachers prepare to write a rationale they may find the following three-part structure useful:

• Describe the setting (e.g. student background and needs, resources, timetabling);
• Describe the intended teaching program (e.g. scope, themes, methods) and explain how it is designed to meet the needs of the particular student group;
• Explain how the assessment outline is designed to provide an opportunity for the student group to succeed.

Assessment plan exemplars

Exemplars are available from the learning area support material pages:

• Arts
• English
• Flexible Learning Programs
• Health and Personal Development 
• Languages
• Mathematics
• Science
• Society and Environment
• Technology