Although the LOMLOE came into force in January 2021, the new education law has begun to be implemented in stages with the arrival of this new year in Primary (first, third and fifth), Secondary (first and third), the first year Baccalaureate and the first year of basic training cycles. One of the main changes that it brings with it is that it is structured around two types of competences: key, those that must be acquired to achieve full personal, social and professional development throughout life; and the specific ones, which refer to the performances that the students must be able to display in activities or in situations whose approach requires the basic knowledge of each area. The assessment process is based on these key competencies. Article 20 of the law stipulates that “student assessment will be global, continuous and formative, and will take into account the degree of development of key competencies and their progress in the learning processes as a whole”.
initial evaluation
But many teachers still wonder how to correctly assess students based on these criteria with the LOMLOE. Mer Flores, a Spanish Language and Literature teacher at an IES of the Junta de Andalucía, highlights the importance of carrying out an initial evaluation: “This type of evaluation by competences allows me to be more aware and make a real diagnosis of the needs of my students. , as well as making decisions at a critical moment, when I still have a whole year ahead of me”. The teacher also affirms that this is the “most practical and formative” form of evaluation.
These tests are carried out during the first months of the course and their objective is not to ‘classify’ the students based on the results obtained but, as Flores says, “to evaluate their starting point to, from there, make the transition from the didactic programming to classroom programming”. And this is where the competencies come into play, especially those of a specific nature, since they specify what skills students must develop in each subject, and each one is directly related to various evaluation criteria. To carry this out, the Andalusian teacher recommends looking at the skills (Linguistic Communication, Plurilingual, Mathematics, and in Science, Technology and Engineering (STEM), Personal, Social and learning to learn…) and studying how to put them into play throughout the first months of the course. “It can be done through presentation activities and games, as they serve as an initial evaluation but also to get to know them better,” she says. And to collect the data it is possible to use checklists in which it is noted whether or not the different students need reinforcement in certain skills, such as reading comprehension.
Program by criteria and use learning situations
Another important aspect when evaluating students with the LOMLOE is programming by criteria. The teacher José Manuel López highlights the criterial nature of the new law: “It is important to take the evaluation criteria corresponding to each subject as a fundamental reference.” And one of the tasks that the departments have to carry out, as López explains, must be the specification and contextualization of each and every one of the criteria of their curriculum, as if it were a rubric. In addition, he emphasizes that “all the criteria contribute to the same extent to the degree of development of the specific competence and will have the same value”. In this way, it will no longer be possible to weigh them, but they will all have the same value. When working on these criteria, the Geography and History teacher at the IES Seritium (Jeréz de la Frontera, Cádiz), Ignacio Sánchez Aranda, suggests using a sheet in which they are stated and the evaluation instruments that will be used during the course. , as well as sharing it with the students, thus favoring formative assessment. “The classic concept of unit note or quarterly note no longer makes much sense. With the LOMLOE, the exams, for example, are not graded; what is qualified is each one of the criteria. This is difficult for them, but in the end they understand it. Once the basic criteria and knowledge that will be addressed in the classroom have been defined, LOMLOE is committed to the use of learning situations to work on competencies. The teacher Víctor Arufe defines them as “activities that are connected to the curriculum, working on different key and specific competences and with some didactic objectives”. Regarding evaluation, he adds: “They also enjoy evaluation, the teacher defining the criteria that will be used and its formative nature, the student being previously aware of how he is going to be evaluated, on what content, etc., thus allowing self-regulation of learning”. Arancha de Pablos, Head of Educational Content at Editorial Edelvives, highlights that the main novelty of her content with respect to the new law lies in learning situations. “The starting point is the approach of a contextualized task that justifies the acquisition of different basic knowledge through different activities and culminates with the elaboration of a final product. Throughout this entire process, individual work is combined with cooperative work, the application of knowledge and procedures, research work and contrasting with sources, oral and written expression…”. In order to assess with the LOMLOE, De Pablos states that teachers “can collect more diverse and personalized evidence of learning than if they only used a final exam, which is a key foundation of competency education.”
Qualify by criteria
In parallel to carrying out this type of activity, teachers can take notes on the skills that are developed in the criteria. In this way, at the end of the quarter they will have compiled information that will help them have a more global vision when evaluating each criterion. “As the end of each quarter approaches, instead of doing a multitude of exams in the last week, I will focus on reviewing the notes I have made for each student who still does not have a grade in that criterion, that is, for those who are ‘ in progress’ or need reinforcement”, says Flores.