The Future of NationWide Testing in the Visual Arts

Final examinations and compulsory testing are powerful means to support educational reforms. In order to be really supportive, these tests have to do justice to both the intentions of the reform and the characteristics of the discipline. In Dutch educational reform titled ‘Basic education’ the classroom teaching should give more attention to skills and abilities and less to knowledge in itself. Although the visual arts have always been skill-oriented, the introduction of compulsory testing of practical work has raised new issues. Is it possible to compare students’ work when the assessment is made by the students’ teachers only? Here the idea is presented to have collections published as part of the test that exemplify the visual possibilities and the levels of accomplishment.