Introducing Assessment Dialogues

The CCF recognises that ‘effective assessment is critical to teaching because it provides teachers with information about pupils’ understanding and needs. Good assessment helps teachers avoid being over-influenced by potentially misleading factors, such as how busy pupils appear. Before using any assessment, teachers should be clear about the decision it will be used to support and be able to justify its use. To be of value, teachers use information from assessments to inform the decisions they make; in turn, pupils must be able to act on feedback for it to have an effect. High-quality feedback can be written or verbal; it is likely to be accurate and clear, encourage further effort, and provide specific guidance on how to improve. Over time, feedback should support pupils to monitor and regulate their own learning. Working with colleagues to identify efficient approaches to assessment is important as assessment can become onerous and have a disproportionate impact on workload.’

Good assessment practice allows teachers and schools to move teaching and learning forward, and to maximise pupils’ achievement

Many new teachers assume that ‘assessment’ means taking a test, but of course assessment is broader than that.

It is useful for them to know that there are two main ways that assessment can be used to inform educational practices: formative (what does the pupil know and next steps) and summative (what has the pupil learned). It is important that beginning teachers are aware of the significance of the difference between these, as well as the vast array of strategies that fall under the banner of assessment.

In relation to inclusive pedagogy and assessment, reference to the graduated approach can be significant. Pages 115-118 of the handbook provide some helpful insights in this regard. Additionally the engagement model on page 131 might be helpful to reference.