As part of the Consistency of Teacher Judgement process, the staff of St Mary Mackillop cluster annually with similar size schools from the Redlands and Bayside suburbs. In preparation for CTJ teaching staff go through a process of internal moderation where assessment pieces are discussed, assessed and critiqued. Each years teachers gather for a twilight meeting to ensure the consistency of teacher judgement when it comes to the application of the achievement standard to student work samples.
The CTJ process is valuable because it allows teachers to share ideas and resources that support the teaching of Religion in their classrooms. This sharing enables teachers to reflect on their own teaching and may give them some new ways to present Religion concepts to the children. .
Moderation is a collaborative process undertaken in a supportive professional environment that:
focuses on achieving consistency, comparability and consensus about the standard of student work
engages teachers in professional dialogue focusing on the extent to which an achievement standard is evident in a piece of student work
enhances teacher professional judgement
occurs formally and informally throughout the year.
Intra-school moderation of Religious Education assessment occurs each term. This practice provides teachers with the opportunity to professionally discuss the Achievement Standards for their year level and rate students’ achievements with these standards in mind. Once planned, the units (including assessment items) are completed. These units are uploaded to the school’s portal. During each term, class teachers are provided time during staff meetings to cluster in year levels and/or cohort groups to discuss current progress in their implementation of Religious Education.
This time also provides teachers with an opportunity to moderate completed assessment tasks, ensuring consistency throughout the year level and school. At the end of the year, staff are given the opportunity to review/change/evaluate the effectiveness of the year level scope and sequence. There is also opportunity provided at the beginning of the year for new learning teams to adjust the Scope and Sequence document to reflect current class composition.