Assessment Task 2 – History Curriculum – Ethan Sais - 17974628

Ethan Sais – 17974628

History Curriculum 2 Assessment Task 2

Table of Contents

Assessment Task ………………………..2

- Outcomes……………………………………………….………..2

- Task Instructions ………………………………………..…..3

- Marking Criteria and Rubric…………………………….4

Scaffolds ……………………………………6
- Source Annotation Scaffold and Stimulus ………..6

- Essay Structure Scaffold ……………………………..…..7

Evaluation….………………………….….8
- References………………………………………………….….13

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Assessment Task 2 – History Curriculum – Ethan Sais - 17974628

FORMAL ASSESSMENT TASK

Modern History – Year 12
National study Assessment Task – Australian Government Policy Post WWII
Rationale

This task is designed to allow students to use the historical skills they have learnt, through a
research-based project that focuses on the critical analysis of various historical sources, which have
been used to create a succinct and sophisticated argument presented in their choice of multimodal
form.

Task number: 2 Weighting: 30% Due: Term 2, Week 6

Outcomes assessed
A student:
- MH12-2 proposes arguments about the varying causes and effects of events and
developments
- MH12-3 evaluates the role of historical features, individuals, groups and ideas in shaping
the past
- MH12-5 assesses the significance of historical features, people, ideas, movements, events
and developments of the modern world
- MH12-6 analyses and interprets different types of sources for evidence to support an
historical account or argument
- MH12-9 communicates historical understanding, using historical knowledge, concepts and
terms, in appropriate and well-structured forms

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Task number: 2 Weighting: 30% Due: Term 2, Week 6

Task Instructions

Using the stimulus and scaffold attached complete the following tasks;
For this Assessment task you will be required to complete two tasks. For the first task you will be
required to write a 800-1000 word essay that requires you to use your own research and at least
SIX sources to discuss the factors, events and individuals that shaped the direction of Australia’s
post world war II government policy. The second task will require you to submit TWO annotated
sources; one source should be written, and the other source should be visual. These annotations
should link to ideas presented in your essay and highlight their significance in shaping Australian
Post WWII policies.

For your response you must:

- use at least SIX sources from a variety of mediums including both primary and secondary
sources these can include;
o scholarly articles,
o textbooks,
o web sources (be careful of the legitimacy of these sources),
o visual sources (photographs, cartoons),
o primary source documents (e.g. speeches, Newspaper articles, etc.)
to justify your argument.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the sources you use and how they are relevant.
- Create an argument that highlights the significance and impact of certain events, people,
ideas and movements in shaping government policy post WWII.

For your response you may want to consider:

- The perception of communist ideologies and their alleged influence in ALP policies
- The modernisation of Australian foreign policy and the enactment of the Statute of
Westminster Adoption Act in 1942 leading to a shift from the British to the American allies
- The political dichotomy of the 1949 election
- John Curtin and the ALP introduction of social welfare policies during government

For your annotations:

- Identify evidence that has a clear link to your argument
- Identify and show understanding of the historical significance of the source
- Make sure you consider the legitimacy of your sources and identify why they are useful

Sources to get started:

- You can look at the key election speeches for Robert Menzies, john Curtin and ben chiefly
https://electionspeeches.moadoph.gov.au/speeches/1949-robert-menzies
- Biography of John Curtin - https://jcpml.library.curtin.edu.au/resources/johncurtin/

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Assessment Task 2 – History Curriculum – Ethan Sais - 17974628

Task number: 2 Weighting: 30% Due: Term 2, Week 6

Marking criteria

You will be assessed on how well you:

- analyse and interpret a variety of different types of sources that are relevant to your
argument
- justify the usefulness and legitimacy of your chosen sources
- use these sources to synthesise your argument
- identify the significance of historical features, people, ideas, movements, events
- communicate and present your argument using historical knowledge, and a range of
concepts and terms
- present your argument through an essay structure
- annotate your two chosen sources
Feedback

- you will be provided with feedback outlining areas of improvement in your writing,
argument, and use of sources etc. this will be presented through written feedback and will
also be addressed via discussion if you have questions regarding your results. You will also
be given the opportunity to seek feedback on your drafts beforehand to guide your
responses. You must use this feedback to reflect upon your writing and understanding. This
can be achieved by thinking about:
o how you present your ideas (what is your argument and how can you justify it)
o how you interpret your sources (what evidence do they provide)
o how you determine the usefulness of your sources

Marking Rubric

A student: Mark range

 creates sophisticated arguments highlighting Australian Government policy

post WWII
 presents and justifies the usefulness of a range of highly relevant sources
from an extensive range of mediums
 makes a sophisticated use of sources to examine the impacts of significant
people, events, ideas, movements 25-30
 uses clear and precise language that incorporates an elaborate use of
historical knowledge, concepts, and terms to communicate complex
historical understanding
 highly annotated sources showing a complex understanding of historical
significance and demonstrates a clear and explicit analysis that support
arguments presented in your essay

 Forms relevant and considered arguments that highlights Australian

Government policy post WWII
 presents and justifies the usefulness of a range relevant sources using
various mediums
20-24
 uses sources to discuss the impacts of significant people, events, ideas,
movements
 uses clear language that incorporates a considered use of historical
knowledge, concepts, and terms to communicate historical understanding

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 well annotated sources show a considered understanding of historical

significance and demonstrates some analysis to support arguments
presented in your essay

 Presents some arguments that highlight Australian government policy post

WWII
 presents a sound analysis of somewhat relevant sources and demonstrates
some understanding of usefulness.
 Some use of sources to highlight he impacts of significant people, events,
15-19
ideas and movements
 Use of language that incorporates some use of historical knowledge,
concepts, and terms, communicates some historical knowledge
 Some annotation of sources to show some understanding of historical
significance and shows some relevance to arguments in your essay

 presents some information and understanding of the policies of the

Australian government post WWII
 some attempt to present sources of relevance and some attempts to
highlight their usefulness
7–14
 attempts to make some reference to the impacts of significant people,
events, ideas, and movements
 attempts to use some historical language, knowledge, concepts and terms
 attempts to annotate sources with relevance and meaning

 presents minimal information and understanding relating to the policies of

post WWII Australia
 makes minimal use of sources and their usefulness
 makes minimal reference to significant people, events, ideas and 1–6
movements
 makes minimal use of historical knowledge, concepts, and terms
 minimal annotation of sources

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Assessment Task 2 – History Curriculum – Ethan Sais - 17974628
Argues that socialism is a highly pervasive threat
Source Annotation Scaffold for the Australian people and government

Using fear of socialist ideologies as political

capital. Warning voters of the threat of “Socialism
in our time”

Suggestion that the ALP delivered socialist

policies and ideologies into government in some
cases without mandate.

List of socialist policies instilled by the ALP since

the last election in 1946. Exerting
control/regulation over the banking sector,
airways, shipping, television frequencies and
government funded medical care.

Emphasises the contrast in ideologies of the west.

The use of British ideologies of government faith
etc. highlights the dichotomy of ALP and LNP
foreign policy and ideologies.

Linking ALP policies to a socialist objective to

discredit and create fear of the ALP amongst
Excerpt from Robert Menzies speech: Melbourne, Vic, November 10th, 1949
voters.

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Essay Scaffold

Essay Plan and Arguments Evidence

Structure

Intro

Paragraph
1

Paragraph
2

Paragraph
3

Paragraph
4

Conclusion

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Assessment evaluation

Introduction

Assessment is a key component in implementing the curriculum within the classroom. It

provides teachers and school leadership with the information and data needed to gauge where their

students are academically. From this data they can identify; how much of the content their students

understand, and which outcomes have been taught. This paper will delve into the importance of

assessment within our teaching programs and curriculum to discuss how assessment shapes student

and teacher experiences and performance, with an emphasis on the role of teacher/student

feedback. This paper will also highlight the approaches to assessment that are most beneficial and

relevant to the history KLA. Furthermore, this paper will evaluate the pressure of the HSC and other

forms of high-stakes testing and the impacts not only on student wellbeing in terms of their mental

and physical health but also on their learning, the community, on the experience of teachers and

how they implement their lessons and on other stakeholders within the community.

Importance of Assessment

Stefl-Mabry (2018) argues that school-based assessment is one of the most powerful

influences in student learning and achievement. This is because assessment is key to providing

varying stakeholders with the information they need to assist students with their learning.

Assessment data is used to inform parents and caregivers of where their child is in terms of

academic achievement as well as provides parents with the chance to identify the areas in which

they can help their child improve. Assessment also provides the government with the data it needs

to determine education funding, informs policies, update and develop educational tools and

websites like ‘my schools’ and aid students in moving on to higher education through the

Universities Admissions Centre. Schools and more importantly teachers use assessments to help

them shape their lesson plans, classes/timetables, units and programs, the content they cover, skills

and knowledge areas they need to focus on, what teaching strategies they use and of course the
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outcomes students have achieved and the effectiveness of teacher instructional practice (Hattie and

Timperley, 2007). As Stefl-Mabry (2018) suggests assessment provides teachers with the evidence of

student learning (2018) and should be designed to enhance student engagement and motivation

through greater and more positive interactions with fellow students, various resources and their

teachers (CESE, 2015)

Teachers and students engage with various forms of assessment throughout the learning

process. Assessment typically happens before, during and after lessons to guide teachers in what

students know and what they need to learn and work on. These are known as formative and

summative forms of assessment. Formative assessment provides educators with a variety of

methods to monitor student learning and to gauge the concepts and skills students are struggling to

understand. The CESE argue that formative assessment has a greater impact on lower achieving

students, providing a more equitable learning environment that aids teachers in dealing with

differentiation in the classroom (2016). Summative assessment is used to evaluate a students’

learning at a specific period and is more often than not considered to be administered as a high

stakes assessment (CESE, 2016).

Feedback

The role of feedback in assessment is hugely significant. This is because it is imperative for

teachers to make assessment meaningful and valuable to students. Hattie (2015) argues that

assessment is too focused on measuring student achievement and instead would benefit greatly

from steering the locus to a measurement of student learning from assessment tasks and as such

should ensure that students are developing the skills and knowledge that is relevant to their

learning. Hattie argues that effective assessment is centred around schools that ensure there are

clear and concise guidelines to what impact and progress of learning looks like, requiring teachers to

work collaboratively over what successful and meaningful learning looks like when it is being

achieved by students with vastly different capabilities.

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According to Hattie and Timperley (2007) effective and relevant feedback provides students

with notable gains in their achievement. Hattie and Timperley argue that effective feedback

incorporates three major questions and dimensions of feedback for teachers and students. These

dimensions are feed up, feedback and feed forward and they correlate respectively to these three

questions; “where am I going?”, “how am I going?” and “where to next?” (2007, p.86). Stefl-Mabry

(2018) argues that for an assessment to be effective and beneficial for students it needs to

incorporate a specific and relevant learning goal consisting of a measurable task that specifies

important conditions with a set of specific criteria. Hattie and Timperley further highlight the

significance of feedback through specific learning goals because it directs a student’s learning and

focuses their attention as the feed back provided usually helps students in identifying the criteria for

success. Feedback has an immense influence over student achievement and therefore should

present elevated expectations to all students. The Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation

(2016) highlights the importance of teachers having high expectations of their students. As they

argue that higher expectations lead to greater performance in every student suggesting that

assessments should provide students with the opportunity and feeling of being challenged (CESE,

2016).

Assessment within history KLA

According to NESA the modern history curriculum provides students with the opportunity to

study the forces that have shaped the modern world, enabling students to have a greater

understanding of the world they live and operate in (2017). ACARA (n.d.) highlights that modern

history achievement standards can be seen through two dimensions the first being the development

of student historical knowledge and understanding and the second being the development of

student’s historical skills.

Gordon et. al. (2014) states that assessment can be used as a tool to improve the processes

and outcomes of learning and teaching. Furthermore, Gordon et.al. argues that formative

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assessment is most important for the feedback it provides students in improving their achievement

of various curricular outcomes (2014). Hattie further elucidates that the effectiveness of feedback

and assessment rests heavily upon the impact and improvement they provide to student learning

(2015). It is evident that the use of feedback can be extremely useful in providing students with the

key information they need to improve upon their learning and achievement. Therefore, teachers

should strive to use assessment as a tool that gives students clear and effective feedback for

developing the skills and knowledge that will be imperative to their success in the HSC.

As an important aspect of learning the assessment of literacy and numeracy skills are highly

relevant to the outcomes and skills of students within the History KLA just as much as they are

relevant and important in many other KLAs. One useful model that could be an advantageous tool

for creating and shaping assessment within the history KLA is that of Stefl-Mabry’s ASK model.

Suggesting that the three aspects of Attitude, Skills and Knowledge are imperative in creating an

assessment task that addresses how you want students to feel about the topic/assessment, what

you want students to be able to do and what you want students to understand (2018). These three

aspects relate clearly to the aspects of assessing historiographical skills and understanding but also

for helping students develop literacy and numeracy skills.

Impact of the HSC/ high-stakes testing on students

Gordon et.al. (2014) argues that high-stakes testing not only carries major impacts for

students who engage with it but also has a significant impact on teachers and schools. As such

Gordon et.al. refer to the naming and shaming of schools and teachers that has come about as the

data presented is being used for political derision and gain. Suggesting that the privatisation of

schooling has led to a severe economic influence and limitation upon the education system and local

schools (Gordon et.al, 2014). This is a crucial factor to consider and shows a deep correlation to how

the data and results of both the NAPLAN and HSC are used to aid parents to choose schools that will

provide an academic advantage purely based on socio-economic position. This is epitomised by the

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creation and implementation of the ‘my Schools’ website. Clearly the ‘my schools’ website places a

huge amount of blame and stress upon a school to perform. Highlighting a fragmentation of

communication at many levels of the education system.

This has a massive impact particularly when assessment achievement determines the future

attainment of students and the opportunities they are presented with. This is particularly relevant to

the issue of differentiation in assessment and providing all students with the ability to succeed,

particularly students with learning and mental disabilities. The Centre for educational statistics and

evaluation (2015) argue that summative assessments such as standardised tests like the HSC and

NAPLAN can be useful for providing an insight into how students stack up against the curricular

standards. However, this can also be quite problematic because the use of high stakes testing only

provides an insight into understanding of skills and knowledge of one student at one moment in

their lives and doesn’t consider student capabilities at other times in their lives as to facilitate the

comparison of on student to another.

Conclusion

It is evident that the role of assessment within the education system has a gargantuan

impact on the social, emotional, mental and physical wellbeing of students and can impact not only

on the lives at present but more importantly further on. This paper has discussed how socio-

economic status and other homelife factors can also play a role in shaping students life outcomes.

These issues relate heavily to the notion of high-stakes testing most relevantly to senior students

and tertiary opportunities is that of the HSC. This evaluation had also drawn upon the significance of

assessment for teachers. Assessment provides teachers with the data to shape how they teach and

what they teach. It also provides teachers with an insight into what students have learn and what

skills they have acquired. But most importantly it provides teachers with the evidence to say that

their students have learnt and met set outcomes in the curriculum.

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References

Australian Curriculum. (n.d.). Modern History . Retrieved from Australian Curriculum :

https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/senior-secondary-curriculum/humanities-and-
social-sciences/modern-history/

Centre for Educational statistics and Evaluation. (2016). Re-Assessing Assessment. Retrieved May 7,
2018, from https://www.cese.nsw.gov.au/images/stories/PDF/Re-
assessing_Assessment_v6.pdf

Centre for Educational Statistics and Evaluation. (2016). What Works Best reflection guide. Retrieved
May 5, 2018, from
https://www.cese.nsw.gov.au/images/stories/PDF/What_Works_Best_Reflection_Guide_20
2016_AA.pdf

Gordon, E.W., McGill, M.V., Iceman Sands, D., Kalinich, K.M., Pellegrino, J.W., Chatterji, M. (2014).
Bringing formative classroom assessment to schools and making it count. Quality Assurance
in Education, 22(4), 339-352. Retrieved May 4th, 2018, from https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-
07-2014-0034

Hattie, J. (2015). What Works Best in Education: The Politics of Collaborative Expertise. Retrieved
May 7, 2018, from https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/corporate/global/pearson-dot-
com/files/hattie/150526_ExpertiseWEB_V1.pdf

Hattie, J., & Timperley, H.,. (2007). The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1),
81-112. doi:10.3102/003465430298487

NSW Educational Standards Authority . (2017). Modern History Stage 6 Syllabus .

Stefl-Mabry, J. (2018). Documenting Evidence of Practice: The Power of Formative Assessment.

Knowledge Quests: Advocacy through coalitions, 46(3). Retrieved May 2018

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