Assessment and Assessment for Learning Assessment is the

Assessment and Assessment for Learning

Assessment is the means we use to gather information about how much the learners have learnt (Criticos, Long, Moletsane, Mthiyane and Mays, 2009) its wider focus is on performance of learners required for promotion, school statistics and for planning teaching it is done at the end of teaching-learning i. e. summative assessment (e. g. through tests). Ideally it should also be done during teaching-learning i. e. formative assessment (e. g. through traffic lights)

Assessment for Learning (Af. L) is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide: where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go next, and how best to get there. (Assessment Reform Group, 2002)

Interactive Teaching requires Assessment for Learning (Af. L) Read the 3 small bullet points in the definition of Af. L (on the previous slide) again to understand why interactive teaching requires Af. L. Our emphasis will be on Af. L from here onwards…

Principles of Af. L It is part of planning It is a key professional skill Focuses on how pupils Gives importance to learner learn It is central to classroom practice It develops capacity for self and peer assessment motivation Promotes sharing of goals and success criteria with learners Provides guidance on how to improve (through feedback) It recognizes all achievement It is sensitive towards learners (not just cognitive learning) and constructive for learning

Af. L strategies: (How to achieve authentic Af. L…) Adjust teaching to learning. Clarify learning intentions and model quality of intentions. Use questioning and classroom dialogue. Give quality feedback. Promote peer and self assessment.

Af. L imperatives/essentials: (What should be done for authentic Af. L…) Make learning explicit. Promote learning autonomy. Focus on learning rather than performance.

How Af. L fits into the OER 4 Schools programme Different Af. L strategies will be discussed over the coming sessions for Unit 4. But there is one strategy that has already been discussed in detail: Questioning and Classroom Dialogue (Unit 2). We will briefly revisit it today in relation to its use for Af. L.

Af. L Strategies in Teaching-Learning Cycle Reproduced from: CCEA (2007): Af. L Guidance KS 1 -2 pg 7, with the kind permission of the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment.

Questioning and Dialogue Questions for Af. L promote thinking and illustrate understandings and misunderstandings e. g. shade ¼ portion in the given figures: Questions for Af. L involve everybody especially in thinking. Some ways of achieving this are: ‘No hands up’, use of mini blackboards and increased ‘wait time’. Dialogue in the classroom for Af. L promotes learning autonomy as classroom culture. Some activities are: debates and magic microphone.

Creating Questions for Af. L Blooms’ taxonomy Socratic questioning Knowledge Qs of clarification Comprehension Qs that probe assumptions Application Qs that probe reason and Analysis Synthesis Evaluation (see VVOB questioning handout p 3 -6) evidence Qs that probe implications and consequences Qs about viewpoints or perspectives Qs about the question

Self-assessment On your Traffic Lights show your understanding of Af. L now. Think of all points that have been discussed: Assessment and Af. L, Principles of Af. L, Af. L essentials, Af. L strategies and The strategies embedded in the teaching-learning cycle Questioning and Dialogue for Af. L

Acknowledgements We are grateful to Dr Sue Swaffield, Senior Lecturer in Educational Leadership and School Improvement at Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge for suggestions and allowing us to use some of her slides in this presentation. Some parts of this presentation have been adapted or reproduced from: CCEA (2007): Af. L Guidance KS 1 -2, with the kind permission of the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment.