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This paper presents evaluation outcomes from an externally funded research project involving the online clinical assessment of practical skills (eCAPS) using web-based video technologies within a university medical programme. eCAPS was implemented to trial this web-based approach for promoting the efficacy of "practical" skills assessment in knee joint examinations for a pre-clinical cohort of second year medical students. eCAPS involves a progressive organisation of online video experiences and task expectations for formative and summative assessments of selected competencies. Data are presented from semi-structured interviews with the medical students ("N"?=?40). eCAPS successfully supported students' skill development in knee joint examinations on fellow students and allowed remote assessment of candidates' performances by clinicians experienced in musculoskeletal examinations. An "indicative standard" paradigm, involving formative assessment of one randomly selected performance from the submission of all students' responses within a small group, offered an efficient and efficacious avenue for providing consolidated feedback to students and promoted desirable learning behaviours. Overall, there was evidence of reciprocal learning benefits to the "blending" of an online learning and assessment approach with an existing face-to-face environment. The medical students were able to successfully engage online with high quality and consistent practical skill-based materials in a flexible, independent and individual manner. (Contains 2 figures.)

Background: The pedagogical and status implications of assessment in physical education (PE) have been recognised in the past. How students perceive being assessed and graded is a neglected area, however. While some studies have garnered students' perceptions of assessment when no grade is awarded or the stakes are relatively low, we know less about how assessment in physical education is perceived or experienced by students engaged in systems where grades have direct implications for students' educational or vocational futures. Purpose: The study presented in this article investigated the criterion-referenced assessment experiences and perceptions of Swedish physical education and health (PEH) students in their last year of compulsory schooling. Central questions were: what do the students understand as the basis for grading decisions in PEH and what do they perceive as the learning goals of the subject? Research design and data collection: A total of 355 students (189 boys and 166 girls) from 28 different schools participated. They were 15 to 16 years of age and attending school year 9. The study draws on data collected through both a questionnaire, which all students answered, and 23 focus groups interviews, in which 73 of the students participated. Findings: The majority of the responses from the students focused on attitudinal, dispositional and behavioural characteristics as opposed to stated learning outcomes in terms of the display of subject specific knowledge and physical capacity. The results indicated that students do think grades are important but they did not appear to recognise the official criteria as the predominant basis for achievement of grades in PEH. Significantly, the degree of student certainty in these elements was underpinned by their indication that the grading criteria were clear and that they were aware of the basis upon which grading judgements were made. Conclusions: We recommend that in order to promote a better alignment between the official assessment expectations of the PEH syllabus and students' perceptions of assessable elements, the Swedish education system should provide greater syllabus clarifications regarding assessment practices and continuing professional development focusing on task construction, criteria and standards construction, the collection and use of evidence and the alignment of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. (Contains 1 table.

Background: Ability is a foundational concept in education. For example, one's perspective of the nature of ability influences how one conceives of the educability and achievement potential of students. However, ability has generally been under-theorised in physical education (PE), particularly in relation to gender. Moreover, default assumptions about ability have tended to draw on traditional conceptions in which ability is viewed as an inherited capacity fulfilled to a lesser or greater extent depending on the opportunities for expression. Purpose: This paper draws on a conception of ability proposed by Evans to challenge traditional conceptions and explain how the discursive conditions of PE "fields" contributed to the construction of gendered abilities in Queensland Senior PE at two demographically distinct schools. Research design: Data are from semi-structured interviews with, and participant observations of, teachers and students at two secondary school sites: one, a low socioeconomic, government school and the other an "elite", co-educational private school. One teacher and six year 11 students from each school, identified in three ability categories by their teachers, were interviewed at five junctures and observed weekly across 20 weeks of the school year. Data analysis: Interview and observation data were systematically coded and analysed within a post-structuralist paradigm to focus on the discursive resources that particular individuals drew on to understand others, and the social and cultural consequences, in terms of power and positioning, of this constitution for students' abilities in PE. Findings: Teachers' and students' values, beliefs and expectations operating in the PE fields of both schools established discursive conditions that gave meaning to the embodied dispositions of students in terms of gendered abilities. The teachers and students consistently perceived differences in the nature of male and female abilities in Senior PE which influenced both the access of students to sites for recognition of ability and the construction of their abilities in these contexts. Conclusion: While awareness of the potential marginalization of girls' engagement in PE has increased, the expectations and practices of social fields as well as the adherence to traditional and popular conceptions of ability may continue to have discriminatory effects on the learning and achievement potential of girls in PE. (Contains 2 tables and 1 note.)

This paper reports on a study investigating the empirical substance of Evans' proposed social construction of ability. Data were collected through text analysis of a Senior physical education (PE) syllabus, semi-structured interviews and participant observations of students and teachers in two senior secondary school contexts (one school situated in a low socioeconomic area; and the other school, an "elite" co-educational private school) across 20 weeks of the school year at key junctures in the schools' PE curriculum plans. The data and analysis support Evans' social construction of ability proposition. Students' abilities were observable as a complex construction dependent on the constitution of the field of practice and the students' possession of physical, cultural and social capital operational in and through habitus. Within this construction process high-ability students were privileged in terms of achievement possibilities while low-ability students were marginalised in terms of access to contexts in which capital may be acquired and/or displayed, resulting in their enduring low-ability identification. The findings offer an alternative perspective to prevailing notions of ability and challenge educators to reconsider how the potential of students in and beyond PE is viewed. (Contains 1 table.)

In light of the policy and research interests in optimising the educational experiences and outcomes of Indigenous young people, this paper aims to give voice to young Indigenous students' experiences of school and to convey a sense of the varied and complex nature of their educational and life pathways. Using a qualitative, life history research approach, 14 young people were interviewed seven times over two and a half years as they transitioned from primary school to secondary school in order to explore their perceptions of health, schooling and plans for the future. The findings demonstrate the complex and multifarious lived experiences of these young people and the incongruence with apparent assumptions underpinning education policies focused on improving and measuring educational outcomes. We argue that in order to avoid isolating, threatening or marginalising Indigenous (or any other) students within education systems, traditional educational pathways and trajectories need to be challenged so as to celebrate the cultural wealth of young people; recognise, value and build on their previous educational experiences; and support the transition across different learning and vocational avenues. (Contains 2 tables.)

Through the voices of students and teachers at an elite coeducational private school and a school situated in a low socio-economic area, this paper explores the potential consequences for students of school alignment or misalignment with the structural imperatives of the broader Queensland senior secondary education system. Although the schools are situated within the same system, the achievement expectations and practices of the two schools were vastly different. Moreover, the structuring features of the private school "field" aligned more closely with the official processes and expectations of the Queensland assessment regime than did those at the other school. School differences in the students' understandings of and investments in their education were observed in relation to differences in school practice.

This paper draws on semi-structured interview data and participant observations of senior secondary Physical Education (PE) teachers and students at two school sites across 20 weeks of the school year. The data indicated that the teachers in this study made progressive judgements about students' level of achievement across each unit of work without explicit or overt reference to the criteria and standards represented in the schools' work programmes and in the Senior PE syllabus. The teachers' justification for such an approach was that the criteria and standards had become for them sufficiently "internalised". Determining students' levels of achievement was for the teachers somewhat "intuitive", being reliant on their memory of students' performances, and influenced by the construct-irrelevant affective characteristics of the students. It is argued in this paper that such construct-irrelevance compromised the construct validity and possible inter-rater reliability of the decisions made and advantaged some students and marginalised others on the basis of characteristics that were not specifically related to the learning expected from following the syllabus. The potential inequities of such an approach are discussed and suggestions are made for the consolidation of the validity and reliability of teachers' judgements. (Contains 2 tables.)

This paper provides two vignettes that draw on data from projects that interrogate how a student can be positioned by practices within physical education (PE) and directed by the PE teacher in relation to their valued or legitimated ability. Through the use of Pierre Bourdieu's conceptual tools of field, habitus and capital we investigate the complex legitimation processes that shape student poss(abilities) and that are situated in the space of the PE class. The first vignette is from the perspective of a student and draws on data from interviews, a journal, questionnaires and photos of her PE experiences in upper primary and lower secondary school. The second vignette focuses on teacher practices and his constitution of the field of a PE class highlighting the significance of teacher perspectives of "ability" in informing assessment in senior secondary PE. Using these examples we discuss the symbolic violence that works against each student by positioning them as "less able" or "unable" despite their participation in a "learning" context. We argue that by not attending to the possible abilities of students that could have been recognized, developed and legitimated, and through the misuse of capital assignment by teachers, PE may well be counterproductive to students' ongoing engagement with the subject area and the espoused potential upon which such a subject area justifies itself. (Contains 1 table and 5 figures.)

Through the voices of students and teachers at an elite coeducational private school and a school situated in a low socio-economic area, this paper explores the potential consequences for students of school alignment or misalignment with the structural imperatives of the broader Queensland senior secondary education system. Although the schools are situated within the same system, the achievement expectations and practices of the two schools were vastly different. Moreover, the structuring features of the private school 'field' aligned more closely with the official processes and expectations of the Queensland assessment regime than did those at the other school. School differences in the students' understandings of and investments in their education were observed in relation to differences in school practice. Keywords student beliefs student achievement education markets student assessment socio-economic influences competitive selection, Introduction In describing the success of private schools in commanding the high-stakes terrain of senior schooling in Australia, Teese indicated that the '"micro" perspective which focuses on how schools differ [...]

Schools and schooling have long provided a tempting site for the delivery of public health strategies that address and promote young people’s current and future health. However, an emerging concern regarding the mobilisation of public health interventions within school settings has been the failure of school teachers to deliver such programs with fidelity. For educators, these notions of fidelity stand in stark contrast to the tenets of student-centred teaching. In seeking to explore these tensions further, this paper draws upon a collaborative health education project conducted with schools and teachers from Queensland, Australia. Findings from this project reveal the complexity associated with curriculum implementation in school settings, where diverse resources including timetable allocations and teacher expertise mitigate the achievement of program fidelity. In our efforts to explain the findings emerging from this project, we have drawn on the conceptual reference points of Basil Bernstein’s theory of the pedagogic device to reveal the predictable misalignment of the health and education sectors’ expected outcomes of school-based health initiatives. In conclusion, we argue that our exploration of issues pertaining to fidelity demonstrates the need for health and education sectors alike to conduct their work according to a clear articulation of the realistic, educative role that schools can play in promoting healthy living. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Considers the use of student ability and assessment in physical education. Nature of ability in physical education according to John Evans; Importance of assessment to the education process; Role of teachers in the development of abilities.