From the editor
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 […]
#ECSeries: RE curriculum and assessment
As part of the #ECSeries, we welcome Dawn Cox MCCT, CTeach (Leadership), who will discuss ‘RE curriculum and assessment”. In this session Dawn will be looking at assessment in RE. She will look at the challenges with assessing RE and some potential solutions to ensuring that curriculum and assessment align, whilst keeping things manageable for […]
Reconsidering the role of mock exams in schools
Nick Pointer, Programmes Tutor, Ambition Institute, UK The hegemony of assessment For many years, schools have given a central role to summative-style assessments. The use of terminal exam questions to drive in-class learning and employing regular internal mock exams to generate grades and measure student progress have become unquestioned practices. This is demonstrated in recent […]
The four pillars of assessment
What’s the idea? Effective assessments can be powerful tools for enhancing learning and raising attainment. To realise this, we must consciously plan assessments with purpose, reliability, validity and value in mind. This guide offers practical ways for teachers and leaders to apply these principles to make assessment more meaningful. What does the research say? Evidence […]
From the editor
Chris Harrison, Professor of Science Education, King’s College London, UK Increasingly, over the last couple of decades, assessment practices in schools have been of great interest to the public and often criticised within the media. This negative approach to assessment has been especially apparent over the last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in […]
Principles and purposes of assessment in the classroom
Sarah Earle, Bath Spa University, UK It might not always feel like it but, as teachers, we are constantly using assessment information to make decisions about what to say, what tasks to set and what to do with task outcomes. Every interaction with students is a potential assessment opportunity, in the sense that such interactions […]
Instant formative feedback: How technology can help in the music classroom
Emma Hayward, Director of Music, Heathfield Knoll School, UK In order for our students to make progress within the classroom, music teachers are particularly adept at giving immediate, usually verbal feedback based on the development of skills as well as understanding. Booth states that ‘teachers who model, observe and give learners constructive comments are using […]
Feedback literacy: The building blocks for effective feedback in schools
Ngozi Oguledo, Lead Practitioner, Ortu Gable Hall School, UK Assessment is the planned or unplanned process involving the review of learning and the utilisation of the outcome for varied purposes. Identifying and closing learning gaps is one of the rationales for assessment. Feedback serves as a bridge, as it plays a crucial role in communicating […]
Eyes on the prize: Creating lifelong learners through engagement with assessment
Peter Wolstencroft and Georgina Gretton, Liverpool John Moores University, UK In his seminal RSA (Royal Society of Arts) lecture, Sir Ken Robinson summed up the prevailing view of assessment as one where to every question there is one answer… and it is at the back of the book (Robinson, 2010). Assessment, in the world that […]
Feedback in a primary classroom
When it comes to providing high quality feedback, we need to ensure that we are teaching responsively – actively eliciting evidence about our pupils’ learning in order to inform and adapt our teaching to meet their needs (Black and Wiliam 1998). One efficient and immediate response to move pupils’ learning forward is to provide verbal […]
Feedback in secondary science
When it comes to providing high quality feedback, we need to ensure that we are teaching responsively – actively eliciting evidence about our pupils’ learning in order to inform and adapt our teaching to meet their needs (Black and Wiliam 1998). One efficient and immediate response to move pupils’ learning forward is to provide verbal […]
Whole class feedback in a secondary English lesson
When it comes to providing high quality feedback, we need to ensure that we are teaching responsively – actively eliciting evidence about our pupils’ learning in order to inform and adapt our teaching to meet their needs (Black and Wiliam 1998). One efficient approach to managing marking workload and maintaining meaningful feedback is to provide […]
A practitioner study: How do pupil responses to peer assessment and feedback impact on their literacy progression?
Within this action research project, we conducted our own inquiry focused on the use of peer assessment during literacy lessons over a unit of work (half a term) based on non-chronological reports, to understand whether it was a useful strategy to improve the outcomes of children’s literacy development. It became a personal target to see […]
The role of assessment literacy in teacher professional development
Teachers have a responsibility to impart knowledge to students that can be applied later in life. However, this knowledge may not always be effectively transferred to students. Assessment, then, becomes an integral part of teaching and learning, as it helps to ascertain that a learning process has occurred. It acts not only as a student […]
Awarding qualifications in summer 2021: Urgent action required
This viewpoint on Ofqual’s proposals regarding summer examinations in 2021 is written by Dr Mick Walker, Former Teacher, Researcher, Fellow of the Chartered College, and an expert in educational assessment. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of the Chartered College. Views on the best way forward are very varied across the sector. […]
In awarding grades, we must recognise the significant disruption students have faced
This viewpoint on Ofqual’s proposals regarding summer examinations in 2021 is written by Shirley Clarke, Former Primary Teacher, Lecturer and Researcher, Fellow of the Chartered College, and an internationally-renowned expert in the application of formative assessment in practice. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of the Chartered College. Views on the best […]
Responding to the Ofqual consultation on awarding grades? Some issues from our members to consider
Back in October last year, I wrote for Schools Week about the complexity of the debate between exams and teacher assessment, and how I am always amazed and somewhat impressed by those who consider the solution to be entirely clear-cut. Now more than ever, the competing priorities and challenges seem almost impossible to reconcile, and […]
Summer exams: Clearing the path of uncertainty to clarity and consistency
This viewpoint on Ofqual’s proposals regarding summer examinations in 2021 is written by Michael Chiles, Geography Teacher, Head of Department, Principal Examiner and Chartered College Council Member. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of the Chartered College. Views on the best way forward are very varied across the sector. For a different […]
Live marking in a secondary English classroom
When it comes to providing high quality feedback, we need to ensure that we are teaching responsively – actively eliciting evidence about our pupils’ learning in order to inform and adapt our teaching to meet their needs (Black and Wiliam 1998). One efficient and immediate response to move pupils’ learning forward is to provide verbal […]
Verbal feedback in secondary drama
When it comes to providing high quality feedback, we need to ensure that we are teaching responsively – actively eliciting evidence about our pupils’ learning in order to inform and adapt our teaching to meet their needs (Black and Wiliam 1998). One efficient and immediate response to move pupils’ learning forward is to provide verbal […]