Assessment in Secondary Music

Assessment in secondary music
EXN885_2
Page 2 of 51 22nd June 2016

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978-1-4730-2141-9 (.kdl) 978-1-4730-2140-2 (.epub)

Contents
 Introduction
 Learning outcomes
 1 Key issue 1: What is assessment for?
 1.1 Summative assessment
 1.2 Formative assessment
 1.3 Evaluating assessment
 2 Key issue 2: What are we assessing in music and how should we
assess it?
 2.1 How do we best assess musical learning and understanding?
 3 Key issue 3: How do we promote assessment for learning?
 3.1 Questioning
 3.2 Feedback
 3.3 Sharing criteria
 3.4 Self-assessment
 4 Key Issue 4: How do we use assessment evidence to plan for learning?
 4.1 Assessment: a question of value
 4.2 Teacher as observer
 4.3 Teacher as musical critic
 4.4 Your assessment practice
 Conclusion
 Keep on learning
 References
 Acknowledgements

Introduction
This free course, Assessment in secondary music, explores assessment in music
education. You will consider issues around the purposes of assessment in music, the
forms that it takes, how you can ensure that these forms of assessment are appropriate
and perceived as legitimate, and how young people can be fully involved in the
assessment of their work, including making decisions about what is assessed and how
it is assessed. Most of all, however, the course will have at its heart considerations of
how music assessment can be musical.
The course identifies and explores some of the key issues and debates around
assessment and music in secondary schools. Through coming to understand these
issues and debates you will be able to reflect upon and develop your assessment
practice. In particular, you will gain greater understanding of how assessment can
support the development of young people’s musical understanding.
Now listen to an introduction to this course by its author, Gary Spruce:
Audio content is not available in this format.
View transcript - Uncaptioned interactive content
As you work through the activities you will be encouraged to record your thoughts on
an idea, an issue or a reading, and how it relates to your practice. Hopefully you will
have opportunity to discuss your ideas with colleagues. We therefore suggest that you
use a notebook – either physical or electronic – to record your thoughts in a way in
which they can easily be retrieved and re-visited. If you prefer, however, you can
record your ideas in response boxes within the course – in order to do this, and to
retrieve your responses, you will need to enrol on the course.
This OpenLearn course is part of a collection of Open University short courses for
teachers and student teachers.

Learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
 recognise the purposes and forms of assessment and their application

in, and implications for, music education
 understand what to assess in music education
 promote assessment for learning in music education
 understand how to use assessment to plan for further learning.

1 Key issue 1: What is assessment for?

Assessment is typically categorised into two main types:
 formative – assessment for learning

 summative – assessment of learning.
Table 1 Types of assessment
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1.1 Summative assessment

Figure 1 Examination certificate
View description - Figure 1 Examination certificate
Traditionally, one of the primary purposes of summative assessment has been for
selection. Many will associate assessment in music education with formal
examinations, such as A Levels or GCSEs, or instrumental and vocal grade

examinations or, perhaps, music competitions and auditions. The results of these
assessments were then used by others, either directly (for example in the case of
auditions) or indirectly (in the case of examination marks/grades) to decide who
should gain entry to bands, choirs, colleges or universities, etc.
These examinations/auditions, along with assessments such as end-of-term ‘tests’ and

end-of-year examinations or assessment at the end of particular projects or modules,
are all examples of summative assessment or ‘assessment of learning’ (AoL).
Summative assessment is used to provide a snapshot of what a student has achieved in
their learning (at its best it will show what they know, understand and can do) at a
particular point in time in relation to specific and pre-defined criteria. It is assessment
that looks back over what has been achieved.
Figure 2 Example of an assessment report
View description - Figure 2 Example of an assessment report
1.2 Formative assessment

The main differences between summative assessment and formative assessment is that
formative assessment is an ongoing process, looks forward and focuses on the
development of musical learning. Its primary purpose is to help the teacher to gain an
understanding of the young person and the young person to gain an understanding of
themselves as a musical learner. It helps to identify any difficulties or misconceptions
that the young person might be experiencing as well as where the young person is
achieving particularly well.
An important aspect of this form of assessment is that it will involve the young person
in the assessment of their learning – often through focused questioning – and thus
support them in coming to an understanding of that learning. For example, verbal
feedback for Teresa Green could be:

Figure 3 Example of verbal feedback
View description - Figure 3 Example of verbal feedback
‘Assessment for learning’ (AfL) by its very nature focuses not only on a young
person’s learning but also on a teacher’s teaching. Teachers who use AfL most
effectively – and who are often the most successful teachers – are those who reflect
upon the information gained from AfL and ask themselves the question, ‘So what
does this mean for my teaching?’ They use AfL as a means to evaluate their own
teaching and then draw upon this evaluation to inform their planning.
1.3 Evaluating assessment

Both summative and formative assessment represent different ways of getting to know
students as musicians and musical learners. However, they are not mutually
exclusive. As Fautley and Savage (2008) have pointed out, aspects of, and
information from, summative assessment events can be used formatively (Figure 4).
Equally, the evidence gained cumulatively from ongoing, formative assessment can
also be used in a summative way and for selection.

Figure 4 The formative use of summative assessment (Fautley and Savage, 2008, p. 27)
View description - Figure 4 The formative use of summative assessment (Fautley and
Savage, 2008, p. ...
The main focus in this course will be on the way in which assessment opportunities
and information can be used to support students’ progressive development as
musicians and to inform teachers’ planning for musical learning.
Activity 1
Allow about 1 hour
Perspective 1
This activity asks you to consider formative and summative assessment practices from
three perspectives.
Think back to your own experiences of music assessment during your early teenage
years. Identify one example of formative assessment and one example of summative
assessment. Complete the table below, describing both the occasions and the ways in
which they helped you to recognise your strengths and what you needed to do to
improve.
Table 2 Examples from your own experience of being assessed
As Des Ho
se crip w it

ss tion sup
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ty ent her
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Perspective 2
Identify one example of formative assessment and one example of summative

assessment from your own practice. Complete the table below: for each instance
describe how it helped you to come to know the young person/people better as
musicians and how it enabled you to support them in making musical progress.
Finally, comment on how the assessment process and what you gained from it helped
you in your planning.
Table 3 Examples from your practice

As Des
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Perspective 3
Identify a particular musical idea, concept or example of a musical genre that you
might wish a class to learn about. Identify the concept, then describe how you might
use formative and summative assessment in support of young people’s musical
learning.
Table 4 Something to explore with your class
M Use
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t/i
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2 Key issue 2: What are we assessing in music and

how should we assess it?
There are three kinds of musical knowledge:
 Knowledge ‘about’ music: the ‘facts’ of music, such as the number

of strings on a violin, who had the Christmas number one in 2015,
what an ‘ostinato’ is, etc.
 Knowledge of the ‘how’ of music: for example how to maintain a
regular pulse or how to be able to play scales correctly.
 Knowledge ‘of’ music: gained from immersion in musical experience
and activity and leading to an understanding of music’s unique
expressive character – much in the way that one would know a
person.
The last of these types of knowledge is the reason why we engage with music; it is
that unique individual and collective relationship that we have with it. The other kinds
of knowledge can support and enrich our knowledge of music but they are never
sufficient of themselves and consequently should not be taught or assessed in
isolation.
However, knowledge of music provides significant challenges for developing

assessment strategies for music learning. It is much easier to pin down knowledge
‘about’ or knowledge of ‘how’, which is why music assessment has often focused on
these types of knowledge: because of their ease of assessment not because they are
more valuable or legitimate.
Year 7 End-of-term test (Knowledge ‘about’)

Q1: How many strings does a violin have?
Q2: Here is a Gamelan. Name the different instruments.
Q3: To what notes are the guitar strings tuned?
Year 8 Test (Knowledge ‘how’)

Q1: Write out a C major scale and indicate where the tones and semitones occur.
Q2: What instrument is playing at the beginning of this extract of music that you will
now listen to?
Q3: Write out this four bar phrase in the alto clef.

Some of these examples are somewhat extreme (however, they are all taken from
actual examples of music assessments) and it is the case that ‘knowing’ these things
can be useful. However, the usefulness of such knowledge is limited if it is abstracted
from a musical context where knowledge ‘of’ music might be developed. It then
becomes potentially damaging if used exclusively (or even primarily) as a means of
assessing musical understanding and assessment. However, the responses are easy to
mark!
2.1 How do we best assess musical learning and

understanding?
Figure 5 Sequencing work
View description - Figure 5 Sequencing work
If developing young people’s knowledge of music is to be at the centre of your

teaching, it should also be at the centre of both the way in which you assess and what
you assess. In this section we set out seven principles that we believe should underpin
all so that it supports the development of knowledge of music.
First, and foremost, assessment should be musical. It should, over a period of time,
encompass the full range of what it is to be musical and reflect the many ways in
which people engage with music across a range of styles, traditions and cultures. For
example, teaching and assessment that focuses exclusively or primarily upon
performing and composing using notation provides a narrow musical experience and
an inadequate basis upon which to assess musical understanding and achievement.
These assessments should provide opportunities for all young people in a class or
group to demonstrate their musical understanding and achievement.
Second, assessment should be integrated into teaching and take place through and
within music-making and responding to music. Young people should be assessed as
they engage in activities that would be recognisable as musical ones outside the
context of formal music education.
Third, assessment should focus on developing the quality of young people’s musical
work. This then moves the emphasis of assessment away from the musical object –
the composition, the performance, the listening test – to the learning student; how

they demonstrate engagement with music across a range of musical activities and
experiences. Assessments that depend on a single musical event or example of work
will by definition be inadequate as they will not give a true picture of the young
person’s attainment and consequently fail to provide the formative support they need
to move forward.
Fourth, assessment criteria should be specific to the project or topic being studied
and the context of the musical activity and assessment should grow from this context.
For example, it would be inappropriate to assess the performance of a song from
Wicked by the same criteria as a folk song or an aria from a Mozart opera. Equally,
one would not assess a minimalist composition by the same criteria as a reggae song.
The starting point for assessment criteria is the music: what is important and of value
within the particular musical tradition or culture within which the young person is
working.
Fifth, assessment processes and criteria should be open to ‘unexpected’ learning that
has not been planned for as well as to learning that is brought into the classroom from
musical learning beyond the school. Teachers should try to avoid assessment
‘myopia’ by only recognising learning they had planned for and expected!
Sixth, assessment should involve young people in assessing their own work and that
of others through discussion and self and peer assessment. Discussion between the
teacher and young person is particularly important so that the teacher can gain an
understanding what the young person is trying to achieve and also what they think
they have achieved. This points up the importance of agreed and shared criteria and,
as the young people develop into agentive musicians, criteria that is negotiated
between them and the teacher.
Seventh, assessment done well will help teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of their
teaching and support them in future planning for young people’s musical learning. We
cannot say that teaching has occurred if there is no evidence of musical learning. As
Jo Glover (2008, p. 1) says, ‘The connection between teaching and learning is not
hard wired – we cannot say “I teach therefore you will learn”.’
If these principles are followed, then assessment has a good chance of providing
feedback and information that supports young people in reflecting upon their learning
and developing understanding of what they need to do to improve.
Activity 2
Allow about 90 minutes
Develop a strategy of assessment that shows how you could address the seven
principles across a series of lessons.
Think specifically of how you will plan for these assessment occasions, the learning
you will seek to assess and the assessment strategies that you will use.

Provide your answer...

3 Key issue 3: How do we promote assessment for

learning?
Black et al. (2003) identify four main ways in which assessment for learning can be
promoted:
 through questioning
 through feedback
 through sharing criteria
 through self and peer assessment.
You will explore each of these in turn and then briefly examine the importance of
talking with young people about their assessment and their music-making.
3.1 Questioning
As we have noted, one of the main purposes of assessment is to help us to come to
know our students better as musicians. Questioning in the widest sense of the word is
a key way to achieve this. Traditionally, questioning has been used primarily to test
understanding of propositional knowledge; for example:
 How many strings does a violin have?

 What does pianissimo mean?
 Who shot John Lennon?
These are what are known as ‘closed questions’ and tend to focus on knowledge
about music. They are questions that are rooted in ‘facts’ about music and there is a
tendency when asking such questions to require instantaneous or near-instantaneous
responses – a kind of musical pub quiz.
However, questioning can be used in much more subtle and enriching ways to engage
young people in their learning, to find out what they are trying to do in their music,
and to encourage them to reflect upon and critically evaluate their work. Such
questioning encourages young people to think about their music-making and what
they are trying to achieve.
Black et al. suggest that in order to ensure that questioning is at its most effective,
teachers should:
 spend effort framing questions that are worth asking, i.e. questions
which explore issues and which develop students’ understanding
 allow young people the time to think and expect them to contribute to
the discussion
 plan follow-up activities to check that the question has had impact
upon learning and teaching.

(Adapted from Philpott and Spruce, 2007, p. 213)
Examples of questions that explore a child’s engagement with music and their
understanding of its expressive power (their ‘knowledge of’ music) might be:
 That piece you have just played, what feeling or mood did you want
the music to express?
 How would you change the way you played it if you wanted it to
express the opposite feeling or mood?
 If you were composing some music to create these feelings what
would you do?
Examples of questions that you might use to ensure that you and the young people
have a common understanding of what they and you are trying to achieve and which
explore ‘success criteria’ might include:
 What are we learning today?

 What are we going to do [musically] to help us to learn this?
 How will you know if you’ve learned this?
However, if such questions are to be effective then they need to be used in a

thoughtful way and not mechanistically.
Activity 3
Think about a lesson that you are going to teach. Devise a set of questions that will
help you:
 Assess the knowledge the student brings to the lesson. Try to avoid the
question: ‘Do you remember what we did last week?’ Remembering
that ‘we played “Love me tender” last week’ is no indication that
learning has taken place. Linking your questioning to a listening
activity based on the repertoire will tell you much more.
 Ensure that so far as is possible, you and the young people have a
shared understanding of what, musically, they are trying to achieve.
 Move them forward in their learning, perhaps by asking them more
complex or detailed questions about their music-making.
 Encourage the young people to reflect on their music-making: ‘What
were the successful and less successful aspects of that performance?
What might improve it?’ e.g. ‘What happens if I play that section
more legato? Why did you decide to do that at that point?’
3.2 Feedback

Feedback is critical in ensuring that young people make progress in their musical
learning. Feedback can take a number of forms. Occasionally it may be written but
more often it will be verbal feedback that is rooted in dialogue between teacher and
pupil. Feedback should identify what has been done well, what can be improved and
ways in which such improvements can take place.
To be effective, however, feedback also needs to be detailed and undertaken

sensitively and at appropriate times and places. Feedback should provide a basis for
moving forward. It should be rooted in what the child can do and offer a clear way
forward for taking the ‘next steps’ in their learning. These steps should be negotiated,
clearly defined, achievable and engaging.
The point at which a teacher intervenes to give feedback is important and goes to the
centre of the creative process. Most models of creativity are predicated on the idea of
the creative process being one of the stages of engagement with musical materials and
ideas. Young people need to be given the space in order to develop at their own pace
and engage with music in their own way. As Philpott says, ‘suggestions and
interventions in what is already a successful creative process can breed resentment
and alienation’ (Philpott and Spruce, 2007, p. 215). Interventions might be used for
the following reasons:
 to praise and reassure the young people that what they are doing is on
the right track
 to suggest and discuss musical ideas with the young people
 to refocus young people back onto the aims of the lesson when their
concentration has slipped.
In all of this, however, we must not lose sight of the fact that it is possible to
‘feedback’ musically – through music. This can be done simply by performing to the
young person another way of playing a phrase (many instrumental teachers do this) or
by demonstrating what the addition of a particular dynamic nuance could add to their
composition. It could also be through a form of musical dialogue, perhaps within the
context of an improvisation.
Activity 4
Allow about 1 hour
Describe in detail a lesson or a section of a lesson that might provide opportunities for
different forms of feedback, including feedback through music. Indicate the intended
learning that will take place, the resources that you will draw on and the activities that
will take place.
3.3 Sharing criteria

We identified the importance of shared criteria in one of key principles for music
assessment that were discussed in the previous section.
It is important that the teacher and young people have a shared understanding of what
the criteria for success might be, whether this is negotiated or imposed. If what the
young people are trying to achieve and the criteria that are being used to assess the
effectiveness of their work do not correspond, then it is unlikely that the assessment
process will be seen by the students as relevant or legitimate, or provide meaningful
information about their musical learning.
Sharing criteria is, as we have suggested, a potentially much richer process than
simply devising criteria (however laudable these might be) and then simply informing
the students what these are – ‘sharing’ in the sense of ‘telling’. Shared criteria can
form the basis of pupil–teacher dialogue, which can result in students feeling they
have a stake in the assessment process rather than it simply being an externally driven
force that is being done to them.
An important part of this dialogue is negotiating with students the criteria by which
their work is to be assessed. This may involve, as Gipps says, ‘extended interaction
between pupil and teacher to explain the task’ (in Spruce, 2002, p. 127) and the basis
for what the teacher counts as success either in their own terms or in terms of an
externally imposed set of criteria such as examination criteria. Young people are then
in a position to apply such criteria in an informed way to their own and others’ work.
Young people can also be involved in defining the terms of assessment and the
criteria for success. As Ross and Mitchell argue:
the teacher’s assessment [needs] to take full account of the pupil’s subjective world –
that world where her particular aesthetic projects are conceived and her unique
aesthetic judgements are made.
(Ross and Mitchell, 1993, p. 100)
In other words, an important part of assessment is to ascertain what it is that the pupil
is trying to achieve and express; ‘teachers and young people should sit down together
in regular shared acts of assessment through talk’ (Ross and Mitchell, 1993, p. 100).
Talking with students enables teachers to understand what it is that the young people
are trying to achieve and to ensure that this is taken into account in the assessment of
their work.
Activity 5
Allow about 1 hour
In a forthcoming lesson, find an opportunity to discuss with a young person what they
are looking to achieve from a particular musical activity and experience. Compare
their thoughts with your own. If there are differences, consider how you might bridge

the gap between them. Write a brief report on the conversation and any changes to
your teaching or assessment that resulted from it.
3.4 Self-assessment
Self and peer assessment is a key element in enabling students to engage critically
with their own work and that of others. Through doing this they can identify their
strengths and plan how to move forward in their musical learning. Self and peer
assessment encourages young people to actively engage in their own learning and to
gain ownership of that learning. However, if self and peer assessment is to work well
it needs to be carefully planned. It needs to be seen by the students as of value by
complementing and adding to assessments carried out by the teacher or other external
authority.
Dialogue between teacher and pupil(s) also forms an important part of self and peer
assessment and is linked to the sharing (in the true sense of the word) of criteria
discussed in the previous section. Criteria that are negotiated, agreed and founded on
a shared understanding of what is to be achieved and how that achievement is to be
valued allows for:
 a dialogue about assessment between pupil and teacher based upon a

common and agreed understanding
 young people evaluating how well they have achieved against the
learning objectives and outcomes. This results in greater learner
autonomy and independence, which leads to…
 the knowledge and understanding that allows young people to decide
(with the support of teachers) what it is they need to do next to
develop their musical learning.
Activity 6
Plan to develop your assessment for learning practice over a sequence of three or four
lessons. Consider:
 the lesson plan, which should indicate your planned learning outcomes
and AfL opportunities
 how you are going to address the four main ways of promoting AfL,
as outlined at the beginning of this section.

4 Key Issue 4: How do we use assessment evidence

to plan for learning?
In this final section you will consider the ways in which assessment information can
be used to enable a teacher to evaluate and reflect upon their own assessment and
teaching in relation to their students’ learning. We pose a series of questions and
discussion points to enable you to structure your thinking when planning for teaching,
learning and assessing in the music classroom. We ask you to consider issues relating
to evaluating and reflecting upon your own teaching under three main headings:
1. Assessment: a question of value

2. Teacher as observer
3. Teacher as musical critic.
4.1 Assessment: a question of value

In this section you will focus on the extent to which assessment is of ‘value’ to the
teacher and their students. Questions relate to the assessment’s fitness for purpose,
how it is planned for and the appropriateness of what students are being asked to do.
Table 5 The evaluation of assessment
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’ mus
w ical
or acti
k? vitie
s
and
in
the
cont
ext
of
diff
eren
t
mus
ical
styl
es
and
tradi
tion
s?
A Ho
m w is
I asse
m ssm
ak ent
in inte
g grat
as ed
se into

ss my
m less
en on
t plan
an ning
int ?
eg Ho
ral w
pa do I
rt mak
of e
th asse
e ssm
les ent
so an
n inte
str gral
uc part
tur of
e? my
teac
hing
and
my
stud
ents
’
lear
ning
?
Is Ho
th w
e do I
w ensu
or re
k that
of thos
int e
er thin
est gs
an that
d are
rel of
ev inter
an est
ce and
to rele

stu van
de ce
nts to
? stud
ents
are
used
to
sup
port
the
mus
ical
lear
ning
aim
sI
cons
ider
to
be
imp
orta
nt?
Ho
w
do I
enc
oura
ge
stud
ents
to
expl
ore
othe
r
area
s of
mus
ical
exp
erie
nce,
repe
rtoir
e,

etc.?
D Ho
oe w
s do
w the
ha less
t on
th plan
e ning
yo and
un asse
g ssm
pe ent
op aid
le prog
ar ressi
e on?
be
in
g
as
ke
d
to
do
bu
ild
on
w
ha
t
th
ey
ha
ve
do
ne
be
for
e?
4.2 Teacher as observer

This second section identifies the things a teacher should be considering and the
questions they should be asking of themselves as they observe the young people
working in their lessons. These questions add a qualitative dimension to the

assessment process that focuses upon students’ engagement with their musical
learning.
Table 6 Observing activities
Q Rel
ue ated
sti issu
on es
s
to
co
ns
id
er
Ar Wh
e at is
th the
e qual
stu ity
de of
nts the
w you
or ng
ki peo
ng ple’
eff s
ect mus
iv ical
el eng
y age
on men
th t?
e
tas
k?
Ar Ho
e w
yo are
u diff
usi eren
ng t
as you
se ng
ss peo
m ple’
en s

t nee
to ds
su defi
pp ned
ort and
th how
e does
dif the
fer asse
in ssm
g ent
ne mee
ed t
s their
of nee
all ds?
yo
ur
yo
un
g
pe
op
le?
Ar Wh
e en
stu plan
de ning
nts and
de asse
ve ssin
lo g,
pi how
ng do I
id bala
ea nce
s the
as nee
we d
ll for
as the
ski dev
lls elop
? men
t of
idea
s to

be
sup
port
ed
by
skill
s?
4.3 Teacher as musical critic

In this final section, you will consider the questions teachers might ask when
evaluating the extent to which their assessment approaches support young people’s
musical learning.
Table 7 Assessment of young people’s work musically
Q Rel
ue ated
sti issu
on es
s
to
co
ns
id
er
W Ho
ha w
t do I
ar defi
e ne
th the
e crite
cri ria
ter for
ia mus
for ical
m achi
usi eve
cal men
su t
cc and
es how
s do I
in com
th mun

e icat
tas e
ks this
I to
ha my
ve you
set ng
for peo
th ple?
e Ho
yo w
un do I
g sup
pe port
op stud
le? ents
in
dev
elop
ing
their
own
und
erst
andi
ng
of
mus
ical
achi
eve
men
t
and
wha
t
they
nee
d to
do
to
imp
rove
?
H Ho
o w
w mig

ca ht I
nI use
de my
m own
on mus
str ical
ate skill
to s to
yo dem
un onst
g rate
pe wha
op tI
le wan
th t the
e you
m ng
usi peo
cal ple
po to
ssi achi
bil eve?
iti
es
of
th
e
tas
k
th
ey
ar
e
un
de
rta
ki
ng
?
Is Ho
th w
e do
yo the
un you
g ng
pe peo
op ple

le’ and
s I
w defi
or ne
k mus
m ical
usi coh
cal eren
ly ce
co and
he inter
re est?
nt
an Doe
d s
int wha
er tI
est asse
in ss
g? and
how
I
asse
ss
sup
port
the
dev
elop
men
t of
inter
est
and
coh
eren
ce?
Ho
w is
inter
est
and
coh
eren
ce
exe

mpli
fied
in
diff
eren
t
mus
ical
styl
es
and
tradi
tion
s?
4.4 Your assessment practice

These two final activities are designed to bring together your learning from this
course and to encourage you to reflect on your assessment practice.
Activity 7
Download the pro forma, Evaluating assessment practice, and use it either while
observing or teaching a lesson so that you can analyse what you see or do, or
following the lesson as a form of reflection.
Write a brief analysis (400 words) about what you learned about your assessment
practice from this process and how you used it to plan for subsequent lessons.

Activity 8
Allow about 2 hours ongoing
Using your learning from this course, together with the principles of assessment that
we have outlined, over a period of four or five weeks develop an assessment profile of
three young people whom you teach.
Part 1
Describe the approaches to assessment that you took, relating these to your
understanding of assessment practice in music gained from this course and elsewhere.
Particularly focus on how you ensured that assessment was musical and how you
involved the young people in the assessment process.

Part 2
Note down and analyse what you found out about your students’ musical learning,
particularly:
 areas of strength and any difﬁculties they were experiencing

 the extent to which they achieved the planned learning objectives
 any difference between what they felt they were supposed to – or
wanted to achieve – and what you wanted them to achieve
 how you used this information to plan future lessons.

Conclusion
In this free course, Assessment in secondary music, you have looked at assessment in
music from a range of perspectives. You began by looking at the broad differences
between formative and summative assessments and their workings out and
implications for music education. You then learned about some key principles for
ensuring that assessment in music education is always musical assessment. From
there, you moved on to look at the different ways in which assessment for learning
might be promoted in the musical classroom. The course concluded by considering
ways in which assessment can be used by music teachers to support their planning.

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References
Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B. and Wiliam, D. (2003) Assessment for
Learning, Milton Keynes, Open University Press.
Fautley, M. (2008) ‘Assessment for learning and teacher education’, drfautley

[online]. Available at
https://drfautley.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/fautley_afl_mmwebsite.pdf (accessed 6
June 2016).
Fautley, M. and Savage, J. (2008) Assessment for Learning and Teaching in

Secondary Schools, Exeter, LearningMatters.
Glover, J. (2008) Planning for a Musical Approach to Teaching and Learning, Music
Key Stage 2 CPD Course, Milton Keynes and London, The Open University and
Trinity College of Music.
Philpott, C. and Spruce, G. (2007) Learning to Teach Music in the Secondary School:
A Companion to School Experience, Abingdon, RoutledgeFalmer.
Ross, M. and Mitchell, S. (1993) ‘Assessing achievement in the arts’, The British
Journal of Aesthetics, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 99–112.
Spruce, G. (2002) Teaching Music in Secondary Schools: A Reader, Abingdon,

RoutledgeFalmer.

Acknowledgements
This free course was written by Gary Spruce.
Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this
content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-
ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.
The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject
to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following
sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course:
Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been
inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary
arrangements at the first opportunity.
Course image
© courtesy Jason Kubilius
Figures
Figure 1: courtesy of Gary Spruce
Figure 4: Fautley, M. and Savage, J. (2008) Assessment for Learning and Teaching in
Secondary Schools, Exeter, LearningMatters
Figure 5: Redsnapper/Alamy
Don't miss out
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visiting The Open University – www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses.

Figure 1 Examination certificate

Description
This image shows a certificate awarded by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools
of Music for Grade 1 piano in 1968.
Back

Figure 2 Example of an assessment report

Description
The text in the image reads: Sahid can play simple tunes on the keyboard using his
hand in the five finger position. He has memorised some key Italian terms and can use
them appropriately. He needs to work harder on his improvisations and listen to a
wider range of music.
Back

Figure 3 Example of verbal feedback

Description
The text in the image reads: Teresa I really liked that improvisation you did in the
Samba piece. During the parts of the music where you were playing with the others
you sometimes weren’t quite with them. Do you know why that was? How do you
think you might correct this? The music had lots of dynamic changes in it. Do you
think that more could be made of these or do you feel you got it about right?
Back

Figure 4 The formative use of summative

assessment (Fautley and Savage, 2008, p. 27)
Description
The diagram is headed ‘The formative use of summative assessment’. From the
heading a dotted rule goes to 2 triangles that have links to other text and boxes with
text. The left-hand triangle links out to summative assessment, looks back and past
achievement, as well as to the right-hand triangle. The right-hand triangle links out to
formative assessment, looks forward and future achievement, as well as to the left-
hand triangle. At the bottom of the diagram is an arrow going from left to right
labelled ‘Time’.
Back

Figure 5 Sequencing work

Description
Pupils in a music classroom using keyboards linked to computers.
Back

Uncaptioned interactive content

Transcript
Introduction to Assessment in secondary music by Gary Spruce
My experience of teaching in secondary schools taught me that assessment is one of

the most difficult tasks for music teachers. Often what you want and need to assess in
music does not map well onto the general school assessment systems. And the
demands of these systems can lead to assessment which is inherently unmusical. For
me it is important then that music teachers understand what assessment in music
education is for and how it is best carried out in the classroom.
Music teachers need to make the case for approaches to assessment in music that
support young people’s musical development and that assess musical learning through
musical means. Some creativity is needed in crafting these assessment systems.
This course is aimed at beginner teachers of music in secondary schools. It starts by

looking at different forms and functions of assessment, what teachers should be
assessing in music, how to make assessment musical. From there it identifies key
approaches to assessment in the music classroom which will support young people’s
musical development and the key aspect here is involving young people themselves in
the assessment processes.
Finally, the unit explores how assessment can be used to help teachers plan for further
musical development, not to mention fostering a better understanding of the young
people we teach.
Assessment is important and this approach should stimulate your thinking around this
tricky area of teaching.
Back


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Assessment in secondary music

Page 2 of 51 22nd June 2016

About this free course

Copyright © 2016 The Open University

We believe the primary barrier to accessing high-quality educational experiences is

Page 3 of 51 22nd June 2016

Head of Intellectual Property, The Open University

978-1-4730-2141-9 (.kdl) 978-1-4730-2140-2 (.epub)

Page 4 of 51 22nd June 2016

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Now listen to an introduction to this course by its author, Gary Spruce:

Audio content is not available in this format.

View transcript - Uncaptioned interactive content

Page 6 of 51 22nd June 2016

 recognise the purposes and forms of assessment and their application

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1 Key issue 1: What is assessment for?

 formative – assessment for learning

Table 1 Types of assessment

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1.1 Summative assessment

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Figure 1 Examination certificate

View description - Figure 1 Examination certificate

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These examinations/auditions, along with assessments such as end-of-term ‘tests’ and

Figure 2 Example of an assessment report

View description - Figure 2 Example of an assessment report

1.2 Formative assessment

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Figure 3 Example of verbal feedback

View description - Figure 3 Example of verbal feedback

1.3 Evaluating assessment

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Table 2 Examples from your own experience of being assessed

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Identify one example of formative assessment and one example of summative

Table 3 Examples from your practice

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Table 4 Something to explore with your class

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2 Key issue 2: What are we assessing in music and

 Knowledge ‘about’ music: the ‘facts’ of music, such as the number

However, knowledge of music provides significant challenges for developing

Year 7 End-of-term test (Knowledge ‘about’)

Q2: Here is a Gamelan. Name the different instruments.

Q3: To what notes are the guitar strings tuned?

Year 8 Test (Knowledge ‘how’)

Page 19 of 51 22nd June 2016

2.1 How do we best assess musical learning and

Figure 5 Sequencing work

View description - Figure 5 Sequencing work

If developing young people’s knowledge of music is to be at the centre of your

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3 Key issue 3: How do we promote assessment for

 How many strings does a violin have?

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