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Assessment for learning should be part of effective planning of teaching and learning

A teacher's planning should provide opportunities for both learner and teacher to obtain and use information about progress towards learning goals. It also has to be flexible to respond to initial and emerging ideas and skills. Planning should include strategies to ensure that learners understand the goals they are pursuing and the criteria that will be applied in assessing their work. How learners will receive feedback, how they will take part in assessing their learning and how they will be helped to make further progress should also be planned.

Assessment for learning should focus on how students learn

The process of learning has to be in the minds of both learner and teacher when assessment is planned and when the evidence is interpreted. Learners should become as aware of the 'how' of their learning as they are of the 'what'.

Assessment for learning should be recognised as central to classroom practice

Much of what teachers and learners do in classrooms can be described as assessment. That is, tasks and questions prompt learners to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills. What learners say and do is then observed and interpreted, and judgements are made about how learning can be improved. These assessment processes are an essential part of everyday classroom practice and involve both teachers and learners in reflection, dialogue and decision making.

Assessment for learning should be regarded as a key professional skill for teachers

Teachers require the professional knowledge and skills to: plan for assessment; observe learning; analyse and interpret evidence of learning; give feedback to learners and support learners in self-assessment. Teachers should be supported in developing these skills through initial and continuing professional development.

Assessment for learning should be sensitive and constructive because any assessment has an emotional impact

Teachers should be aware of the impact that comments, marks and grades can have on learners' confidence and enthusiasm and should be as constructive as possible in the feedback that they give. Comments that focus on the work rather than the person are more constructive for both learning and motivation.

Assessment for learning should take account of the importance of learner motivation

Assessment that encourages learning fosters motivation by emphasising progress and achievement rather than failure. Comparison with others who have been more successful is unlikely to motivate learners. It can also lead to their withdrawing from the learning process in areas where they have been made to feel they are 'no good'. Motivation can be preserved and enhanced by assessment methods which protect the learner's autonomy, provide some choice and constructive feedback, and create opportunity for self-direction.

Assessment for learning should promote commitment to learning goals and a shared understanding of the criteria by which they are assessed

For effective learning to take place learners need to understand what it is they are trying to achieve - and want to achieve it. Understanding and commitment follows when learners have some part in deciding goals and identifying criteria for assessing progress. Communicating assessment criteria involves discussing them with learners using terms that they can understand, providing examples of how the criteria can be met in practice and engaging learners in peer and self-assessment.

Learners should receive constructive guidance about how to improve

Learners need information and guidance in order to plan the next steps in their learning. Teachers should:

• pinpoint the learner's strengths and advise on how to develop them
• be clear and constructive about any weaknesses and how they might be addressed
• provide opportunities for learners to improve upon their work.

Assessment for learning develops learners' capacity for self-assessment so that they can become reflective and self-managing

Independent learners have the ability to seek out and gain new skills, new knowledge and new understandings. They are able to engage in self-reflection and to identify the next steps in their learning. Teachers should equip learners with the desire and the capacity to take charge of their learning through developing the skills of self-assessment.

Assessment for learning should recognise the full range of achievements of all learners

Assessment for learning should be used to enhance all learners' opportunities to learn in all areas of educational activity. It should enable all learners to achieve their best and to have their efforts recognised.

Assessment for learning: a powerful way to improve learning and raise standards. With materials for each subject as well as general information, this guidance will help you integrate assessment for learning into everyday classroom practice.

What is assessment for learning?

Assessment for learning involves using assessment in the classroom to raise pupils’ achievement. It is based on the idea that pupils will improve most if they understand the aim of their learning, where they are in relation to this aim and how they can achieve the aim (or close the gap in their knowledge).

What is this guidance about?

This guidance describes the principles and characteristics of assessment for learning and provides a general checklist and resources for each subject. It aims to promote consistency and coherence in how assessment for learning is used in the classroom.

Who is this guidance for?

This guidance is designed for teachers but may also be helpful for local authority assessment advisers, school managers, trainee teachers and researchers.

There has been a huge increase in the number of people interested in becoming teachers since the start of the so-called credit crunch.

It is important that you analyse your school's behaviour management policy but the following discipline policy sanctions can be highlighted;

•  Give extra work to be completed after school or at home.
  
•  Verbal chastisement after lesson or after school.
  
•  Form Tutor’s detention with 24 hours notice.
  
• Subject Teacher’s detention/with 24 hours notice.
  
• Departmental detention with 24 hours notice.
  
• Faculty detention with 24 hours notice.
  
• School detention. This can only be issued by the Senior House Tutor/Head of Faculty or by a senior member of staff and must have 24 hours notice.
  
• Head Master’s detention. This can only be issued only by the Head Master or a senior member of staff with 24 hours notice.
  
• Use of individual daily report sheets issued by Senior House Tutor.  This is then overseen by Form Tutor or Senior House Tutor.
  
• Use of class report sheets which is issued by Senior House Tutor.
  
• Exclusion from a lesson.
  
• Fixed term exclusion. In the case of exclusions exceeding 2 days, work should be set.
  
• Chairman of Governors’ warning.
  
• Permanent exclusion, involving the Governing Body and the School Attendance Panel.

Why do we need change? 

• For economic reasons;   the UK is facing a global productivity challenge, this means we need a high skilled economy. 

• For social justice reasons; a learners background should not determine success 

• To serve each individuals needs, inclusions, personalisation, whatever the learners abilities are, they deserve a certain level of education.

 

The strategies that are being adopted. 

• A new progressive qualification structure
• A learner moves on when he or she is ready to move on
• Emphasis on new learning, new knowledge and inclusion
• Keep learners in education longer
• Diplomas across a range of areas
• Literacy, Numeracy and ICT Functional skills introduced.

 

 The structure of the new education strategy that encourages progressive qualification can be summarized below; 

• Entry Level 1 – Different abilities
• Level 1(Foundation) D-G @ GCSE
• Level 2(Higher) A*-C @ GCSE
• Level 3(Advanced) A-levels
• Level 4 Foundation degree
• Level 5 Honors degree

 

Structure of the diploma 

• Principal learning – This will develop knowledge, understanding and skills relevant to the broad economic sector, connecting subject area to every day life 

• Generic learning – This will ensure that all diplomas contain a common generic set of skills which are relevant to successful learning and employment

• Additional and specialist learning – This will enable learners to tailor their learning according to their aspirations and interests.
• 50% of each diploma will be applied

Level 4	Shape and Space You can draw reflections of shapes in a mirror. You can find out the distance around a shape, called the perimeter. You can work out the area of a shape by counting the squares in it. You can measure different lengths and angles by using the correct equipment and write down the correct units. You can draw well-known shapes in 2-D. You can make 3-D models and know about faces, edges and vertices.
Level 5	Shape and Space You can draw lines and angles accurately to construct shapes and models. You know the angle sum of a triangle is 180 degrees and that angles at a point equal 360 degrees. You know the symmetries of 2-D shapes. Convert units like miles into km. Convert one metric unit to another. You should be able to estimate various everyday measures. Understand and use the formula for the area of a rectangle.
Level 6	Shape and Space Know and use the characteristics of different quadrilaterals. Solve problems with angles on intersecting and parallel lines. Understand and use formulae to work out area and circumference of circles; areas of triangles and trapezia; volumes of cuboids. You can enlarge shapes by positive whole number scale factor. Recognise and use 2-D versions of 3-D shapes. Write simple instructions for a computer to make and change shapes and moving paths.
Level 7	Shape and Space Use Pythagoras. Calculate length, area and volume in 2-D shapes and also in some prisms. Produce enlargements by using a fraction as a scale factor and check the relationship between the two shapes. You can draw the locus of a moving point. Understand and use compound measures such as speed in km per hour. Know that measurements are only as good as the tool used to measure with. Know that limits can be half a unit above or below the stated value.
Level 8	Shape and Space You should know and use congruency and similarity. Use trigonometry ( sin, cos, tan )  in right angle triangles to find missing sides and missing angles.  By looking at a formula you can say whether it is for length, area or volume.