Assessment for learning
What is Assessment for Learning?
(also known as “Formative Assessment”)
Ruth Sutton defined formative assessment as
“an ongoing process, conducted both formally and informally, by which information and evidence about a child’s learning is absorbed and used to plan the next step, or guide through a given task”.
(Assessment – A framework for teachers, 1991)
Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam explain formative assessment in these terms:
“the term ‘assessment’ refers to all those activities undertaken by teachers, and by their students in assessing themselves, which provide information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged. Such assessment becomes ‘formative assessment’ when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching work to meet the needs.”
(Inside the Black Box, 1998)
Shirley Clarke discusses in her books how formative assessment might look in classroom practice. The key characteristics are:
- clear learning intentions, shared and discussed with pupils
- pupils understand the “success criteria” – how they will know they have achieved the learning objective, or the steps towards achieving it
- marking and feedback are related to the learning intention and success criteria, indicating the child’s successes and helping them to know how to improve
- improvement is made as a direct result of the feedback
- children are actively involved in self- and peer-assessment
- questioning techniques are used effectively to extend learning
- there is a belief that all children can succeed
- there is a culture where learning is celebrated, rather than performance
The Ofsted Education Inspection Framework refers (under ‘Implementation’) to inspectors evaluating how teachers “check learners’ understanding systematically, identify misconceptions accurately and provide clear, direct feedback. In doing so, they respond and adapt their teaching as necessary, without unnecessarily elaborate or differentiated approaches”
Although not using the term ‘formative assessment’, the above paragraph clearly indicates the importance of teachers making effective and frequent use of techniques to explore and analyse learners’ thinking and to respond accordingly.
For more on this, see this HFL blog:
HFL Education Blog: The place of assessment in the new Ofsted Framework
Useful websites
The following websites contain useful information relevant to AfL. (These websites were all checked out in August 2024. However the content of websites does change and the HfL Assessment team accepts no responsibility for the content of these external websites.)
Book lists
- Visible Learning: Feedback (2018) by John Hattie and Shirley Clarke
- Thinking Classrooms: Metacognition lessons for primary schools (2018) by Katherine Muncaster with Shirley Clarke
- Outstanding Formative Assessment: Culture and Practice (2014) by Shirley Clarke
- Active Learning through Formative Assessment (2008) by Shirley Clarke
- Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2006) by Carol Dweck
(particularly useful when reflecting on classroom ethos and developing a ‘learning culture’) - Effective Learning in Classrooms (2007) by Chris Watkins, Eileen Carnell and Caroline Lodge
- Unlocking Assessment: Understanding for reflection and application (2008) edited by Sue Swaffield
- Embedded Formative Assessment (2011) by Dylan Wiliam