The purpose of this series of projects was to investigate how SWANs fits with other assessment tools to support teacher decision making on how to use them in a complementary way. These projects were informed by the Access for Complex Learners (AfCL) trial that investigated the usefulness of four assessment tools, one of which was SWANs, for supporting teachers to plan instruction for students with additional learning needs.
In the first project, the University was commissioned by the NSW Department of Education (DoE) to investigate how SWANs maps to the other DoE assessment resources and can complement each other with the aim to support teaching practice and learning of students with additional learning needs. This was done through a process of visual mapping and review with experts through a series of consultations. The result was that there was a strong map that could provide the basis for empirical investigation of the links.
Thus, a second project has been commissioned to empirically investigate the mapping to strengthen arguments for the linking of the three tools to support the learning of students with additional learning needs.
The impact
This work will potentially have a profound impact on policy and practice as a set of assessment tools developed by and for teachers to support their work with students with additional learning needs. The NSW DOE has committed to a system-wide trial of SWANs to investigate how best to implement it in its context.
Moreover, the linking of the three assessment tools will provide further insights regarding the teaching and assessment of students with additional learning needs. It will provide teachers with guidance regarding the use of three assessment tools to facilitate a nuanced approach to target the learning of all students. Moreover, it will support continuity and consistency at a state level. The findings from this project are expected to provide research-based information for schools using different assessment tools to inform their planning for students with additional learning needs.