ASSESSMENT IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION. JUSTIFICATION

The assessment should be understood as a process of dialogue, understanding and improvement, trying to obtain information about how the teaching and learning process is being developed, to improve it.

Students assessment will include motor, affective-social and cognitive aspects. It will be carried out at different moments: initial evaluation (beginning of the unit, to know the starting level), formative evaluation (during the whole unit) and summative evaluation (at the end of the unit).

 The assessment of this subject will be in English, following the guidelines of the legislation for bilingual subjects. When assessing Physical Education we should give more importance to the motor aspects, as Decree 89/2014 says, but also taking into account conceptual knowledges.

Regarding to knowledge we should take into account the specific knowledge of the area (In this unit related with the parts of the body, a healthy lifestyle and the Cardio Respiratory System) and also the use of English by our students (comprehension, speaking, writing…). From my point of view, the knowledge of the language should not prevail over the knowledge of the subject.

It is important to remember that formative assessment happens every day, not just in a single ritual and can range from a smile or a raised eyebrow to detailed feedback about how and what a child is learning. This detailed feedback is towards the performance and not the child and use language that describes rather than evaluates.

Assessment for learning is a powerful way of raising pupils’ achievement. It is based on the principle that pupils will improve more if they understand the aim of their learning, where they are in relation to this aim and how they can achieve the aim (or close the gap in their knowledge). The key is for students to understand exactly what they are learning and for teachers to use questioning and assessment techniques that help the learners move forward.

The assessment criteria for this unit are:

1.    To be able to locate body parts, limbs and joints in their bodies and in their classmate´s bodies.he main body parts involved in different movements

2.    To be able to recognise changes in Cardio Respiratory systems during the practice. 

3.   To be able to respect partners and collaborate with them.

4. To value the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. 

5. To be able to understand and recognise the principles of a healthy diet.

The criteria used to judge students’ work must be clear and must be directly linked to outcomes and indicators. In addition, these criteria must be shared with students, through the success criteria, so there is no mystery about what the teacher is really after.
Having these criteria clear, students can assess their own learning (self-assessment). However, this ability to assess accurately does not develop automatically; as such we need to work with it to develop the desired skills.

To develop the assessment we will use different tools:
- Observation: we use it to assess motor skills, affective and social aspects and the use of English. Trying to  be as much objective as possible, it´s important to determinate the aspects we are going to focus on (respect each other, active participation, fair play...)

- Written activities are used to assess knowledge (Of the subject and the language). To assess if students know the principles of a healthy diet, they have to complete an activity of the food pyramid and a written exam about the parts of the body and the changes in the Cardio Respiratory system.

- Peer-assessment: in pairs, each student will assess his mate´s knowledge about the parts of the body (joints and muscles) and their location.
 
 - Self assessment: students will reflect on their own learning using a cheklist sheet. 

Taking into account all of them, the differents percentages that are included on the final mark are shown in the next chart: