Employment testing is routinely performed in South Africa today, but this was not always the case. Turning its back on its apartheid history of racial segregation and discrimination, South Africa has developed a progressive legal system to thwart bias and promote fairness in employment testing. This chapter explores employment-related testing in the public and private sectors, beginning with an overview of South Africa’s apartheid history, followed by a discussion of how the current legal system addresses fairness. A distinctive aspect of South African law is that preferential treatment, including lower cutoffs and within-group norming for protected groups, is not only mandated but also widely practised as the norm rather than the exception. Our review concludes that South Africa has enacted an extensive legal framework to promote equality and prevent unfair discrimination.

An epilogue assesses the impact of the antiwar movement. Both activists and scholars disagree over its significance. Despite common misperceptions of the movement by the public, antiwar activists generally represented mainstream American political values. While the movement did not stop the war by itself, it imposed real limits upon presidential decisions to escalate American military expansion. Movement activists overwhelmingly waged peace using the tools of democracy to align the nation’s practice with its most righteous vision.

Assessment of mental health problems in children and young people (CYP) is an essential skill that requires a curious mind, a good knowledge of the subject and an ability to be empathic. Assessment should be structured with attention given to the developmental nature of the presenting difficulties and their impact on functioning. Similarly, understanding the impact of the child’s immediate environment on their mental health and integrating information from various sources is an important skill to be mastered. A thorough mental state examination of a CYP complimented by relevant physical examination is an integral component of a good assessment and creatively engaging a CYP in this process is crucial. A knowledge of psychometric profiles of various assessment and outcome measurement tools and the ability to skillfully use them in the assessment process is also important. The strength of child psychiatric assessments lies in multidisciplinary working. Specialist assessments by other professionals are valuable in arriving at a diagnosis or a formulation. The skill to sensitively feed this back to the CYP and their family, and engaging them in the next steps will help in a successful outcome. Ultimately, a good assessment ensures that the CYP and their families get the right help, at the right time from the right people.

This chapter provides an overview of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) in children and young people. The definition and classification of NDDs is discussed, including key differences between ICD-10 and ICD-11 and the problematic use of language in diagnostic classifications, which is at odds with the social model of disability. Important stages of a multidisciplinary assessment of NDDs include a detailed developmental history, a psychosocial history, observation of the child, an assessment of the child’s communication and learning and supplementary rating scales. The role of professionals such as Community Paediatricians, Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, teachers and Educational Psychologists is highlighted. Features of the main NDDs are outlined, including Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Specific Disorders of Development and Language and Tic disorders. Finally, an overview of treatment approaches and their evidence base is explored.

The terms ‘curriculum’, ‘pedagogy’, ‘assessment’ and ‘reporting’ are often heard. Each of these terms has been interpreted in different ways and, throughout the history of formal education, one or another has been often at the forefront of educational thinking and practice. We consider that these four areas are inextricably interwoven and changes in policy or practice in one area influence each of the others. This chapter introduces some of the literature, research and practice to help develop an understanding of curriculum, pedagogy, assessment and reporting. We will discuss the interrelationship and alignment of these four areas, enabling reflection on how changes in each of these areas at a national, system or school level impact the day-to-day work of teachers.

Commercially run grade examinations and competitive music festivals, which tested learners’ attainment, were central to the consolidation of violin culture across Britain. Chapter 3 analyzes the string exams operated by three institutions, each of which targeted different socioeconomic groups. Bringing the College of Violinists – the first exam board to offer elementary string exams and the only one to guarantee string players would be assessed by specialists– into dialog with the more often discussed ABRSM and Society of Arts, the discussion evaluates exam requirements, candidate numbers, and success rates. At root, exams were tools for motivating students and supporting and shaping learning. Regional competition festivals offered additional opportunities for more advanced pupils’ performance to be assessed (in a public hall, as opposed to a private exam room) and, along with the exam boards, they contributed to the informal standardization of core repertoire. The chapter also surveys instructional materials, some of which were responses to the exam culture, and weighs students’ experiences of learning.

Assessment is a fundamental part of the design process of teaching and learning. Educators knowing and understanding their own beliefs and values about the professional work they do in assessment is crucial to learner success and progress. Being able and willing to write quality assessment tasks, to collect the evidence of student learning and to moderate this evidence with colleagues are all part of the science and art of being a professional in education. Assessment enables the educator to understand what students have learnt and determine what they will learn next. It allows educators to set goals for improvement, design the learning program in collaboration with learners beginning with the end in mind, and monitor progress. Educators are continually assessing and this chapter endeavours to make sense of this important professional skill, which impacts on teaching and learning. To illustrate these ideas and skills in relation to Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS), examples from the Australian Curriculum: HASS will be used.

It was decided that the content of the curriculum is the knowledge, skills and concepts. Moreover, it can be strongly argued that the concepts are fundamental to the successful application of the knowledge and skills. This chapter explores the concepts within the HASS learning area and why they are so important for quality learning; that is, what is the role of the concepts in developing learners’ critical and creative thinking in the subject disciplines of History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship and Economics and Business? These Humanities subjects are known as the sub-strands of the knowledge and understanding strand in the Australian Curriculum: HASS (v.9.0). Regardless of the nomenclature of the disciples in question, if we intend to develop higher-order critical and creative thinking in the HASS learning environment, it is fundamental that learners understand HASS concepts.

If we approach Arts education as we might approach literacy, we would aim to develop Arts literacy in students. We would teach students the tools of language, ways of constructing meaning, vocabulary, structures, forms, genres and shaping cultural and social contexts. In literacy we allow children freedom to gain confidence and experiment with creative writing, but we also intervene when necessary to correct, guide and teach them explicit skills and knowledge. If we apply this approach to the Arts, rather than stand back and ‘let the child be free’, we can focus on developing proficiency in knowledge and skills as well as fostering creativity and imagination right from the start. As with any other Learning Area, child engagement and achievement in the Arts are determined by exposure to ongoing, sequential learning experiences. This chapter suggests ways in which teachers can achieve this in a way that is respectful of the needs and interests of the child.