This study aims to explore the content of school behaviour policies and the effect that they have on attendance and exclusions among secondary school students. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) have funded the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to work collaboratively with a small team from University College London on a study evaluating how […]
Professor Bill Lucas, Director, Centre for Real-World Learning, University of Winchester, UK; Co-founder, Rethinking Assessment, UK Since 1918, success at school in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has been largely judged by means of high-stakes, standardised examinations at the end of secondary education, with the School Certificate for 16-year-olds and the Higher School Certificate two […]
ALISTAIR CRAWFORD, NATIONAL NETWORK OF SPECIALIST PROVISION (NNSP), UK This article explores aspirations and meaningful outcomes beyond the school gates through the perspective of ‘experts by experience’. … this problem of deficit framing is located within the wider societal issue of the meritocracy, life’s “sorting principle” which has narrowed what we perceive a “good life” […]
DR FRAN WILBY, RETHINKING ASSESSMENT, UK Internationally, there has been some challenge in recent years to the efficacy of exams as the sole measure of a young person’s life and work readiness. In some regions, learner profiles are garnering particular interest as an alternative. Student-owned digital records may offer an opportunity to highlight learning, strengths […]
Alex Tomkins, Headteacher, Greenside School and EdD student, University of Derby, UK Assessment of students with SEND has been under debate for a long time, with several significant changes over the past few years. This article shares the journey on which special schools have been in terms of guidance on assessment, as well as how […]
CHRIS LARVIN, HEAD OF EVALUATION & IMPACT, TEACH FIRST, UK The term ‘assessment literacy’ describes teachers’ knowledge and use of classroom assessment approaches. Over the past decade, assessment literacy has evolved from being viewed as a singular set of knowledge and skills into a multidimensional construct encompassing a wide range of competencies and dispositions. Early […]
JOZEF BENDIK AND FABIO DI SALVO, SINGAPORE Assessments used in schools often involve teachers administering end-of-unit or -semester tests with questions selected from question banks. The assignment of grades usually relies on either a teacher-determined scale or grade boundaries taken from previous terminal examinations. These methods can introduce inconsistencies into the evaluative process. Furthermore, students […]
SEUNGAH LEE, ART & DESIGN TEACHER, NO FRAME ART & EDUCATION, SOUTH KOREA LOUISA HORNER, LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT LEAD, CATS GLOBAL SCHOOLS, UK Studying art can be a culture shock. In fact, it should be a culture shock. Art students in the UK are faced with expectations to create original artwork and not imitate, but […]
ALEXANDRA GREENFIELD, HEAD OF ENGLISH, ST ALBANS HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, UK There is no more valuable resource than time, and there is likely no aspect of teaching that takes disproportionally more time than it has impact than giving ineffective feedback. (Hill, cited in Donarski, 2020, p. 37) Getting feedback ‘right’ is, arguably, one of the […]
DR JENNIFER MARSHALL, INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF DERBY, UK Introduction This article examines how phonics teaching in compulsory schooling may contribute to a ‘vocabulary gap’ that has repercussions in terms of reading comprehension for disadvantaged students, as seen in SATs and subsequent GCSE exam scores. Reading in primary education The findings from a meta-analysis […]
CHRISTOPHER TAY, VISITING LECTURER IN INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER, UK Coherent curriculum (CC) as a model represents a particular approach to any knowledge-rich curricula; how Ofsted are using it to inform their work on curriculum and assessment is the initial focus here. Ofsted’s subject reports, compiled from inspection evidence and research visits to […]
AIMEE WILLIAMS, DIRECTOR OF SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT, THREE SPIRES TRUST, UK Introduction In the ever-evolving landscape of education, the impact of influential figures like Dylan William cannot be overstated. For the uninitiated, his influential work on feedback in the classroom emphasises the importance of formative assessment as a powerful tool for improving student learning and ‘moving […]
SARAH CUNLIFFE, LEON WALKER AND REBECCA MORRIS, UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK, UK Do I really know enough about the understanding of my pupils to be able to help each of them? It was the summer of 2015 and we (Sarah and Leon) had just read this excerpt from Inside the Black Box (Black and Wiliam, 1998, […]
POPPY DALL’OCCO, ALEX MORGAN AND EMMAJANE MILTON, SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, CARDIFF UNIVERSITY, UK Context This article draws on research findings from a small-scale, qualitative case study based in one secondary school in England. It reports on an in-depth, thematic analysis of nine semi-structured online interviews with GCSE teachers of either English or mathematics. The findings […]
MARCO NARAJOS, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, UK Rationale Research has long indicated that feedback supports attainment (Hattie and Timperley, 2007). This has led to assessment by regular or deep marking becoming a significant source of burdensome workload, which significantly correlates with poor teacher wellbeing (Brady, 2020; Jerrim and Sims, 2020). Teaching at an independent […]
Katy Manisier, Melissa Glackin and Prof Christine Harrison, King’s College London, UK Having taught in the state sector for a decade, when I moved to work in an independent school, I was bemused to learn that minimum target grades for GCSE were not used. How did teachers know if classes were on track? How did […]
BENJAMIN WOOD, SUBJECT LEADER FOR RELIGIOUS STUDIES, HASLINGDEN HIGH SCHOOL, UNITED KINGDOM Primarily, assessment is concerned with progress. It might try to determine how much progress has been made, and it might aid the making of further progress. Different forms of assessment may prioritise one of the above over the other but, ultimately, assessment is about […]
NICOLA ROBINSON, VICE PRINCIPAL, THE WORTHGATE SCHOOL, UK As a senior leader, I am privileged to be able to observe many lessons across my whole school’s curriculum. Since I am also a teacher, I can also appreciate and empathise with the challenges that each teacher encounters, with every lesson offering a multitude of decision-making pathways […]
AMARBEER SINGH GILL, TEACHER EDUCATOR, AMBITION INSTITUTE, UK JENNIFER CURRAN, RESEARCH SCIENTIST, AMBITION INSTITUTE, UK We [often] question the judgement of experts whenever we seek out a second opinion on a medical diagnosis. Unfortunately, when it comes to our own knowledge and opinions, we often favor feeling right over being right… We need to develop the habit […]
LYNSEY ANNE MEAKIN, SENIOR LECTURER IN EDUCATION, INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF DERBY, UK Traditional assessment methods often fall short in capturing students’ true abilities and fostering authentic learning experiences, and the introduction of AI (artificial intelligence) tools further complicates the task of accurately assessing genuine student learning. This article will provide a brief explanation […]
