Learners do well when engaging fully in their learning, collaborating in planning and shaping and reviewing their progress. Approaches to assessment that enable learners to say, 'I can show that I can…' will fully involve them.
At all stages, learners should understand that assessment will support them in their learning and help them develop ambition to learn in increasing breadth and depth.
Children and young people can develop their confidence through thinking about and reflecting on their own learning. They should have regular time to talk about their work and to identify and reflect on the evidence of their progress and their next steps, including through personal learning planning. Through frequent and regular conversations with informed adults, they are able to identify and understand the progress they are making across all aspects of their learning and achievements.
For this process of reflection to be effective, learners need to be supported in developing their skills in self and peer assessment and in recognising and evaluating evidence of their own learning. Peer assessment and other collaborative learning enables learners to support and extend each others' learning, for example by being aware of what is expected of them from looking at examples and devising and sharing success criteria.
As they develop skills in self and peer assessment, learners will build confidence and take more ownership for managing their own learning. By focusing on the processes of learning as well as on their achievement of outcomes, they will become reflective and positive contributors to assessment.
Using these approaches to encouraging dialogue about learning, children and young people and staff can identify next steps and learning goals based on feedback and evidence of learning. Children and young people should agree learning goals and should record them in ways that are meaningful and relevant, for example in diaries, learning logs and progress files.
Reflective questions
How effective are you at making clear to learners what they are learning, what success looks like and what is expected of them?
Do you provide sufficiently high quality feedback to learners about how well and how much they have learned? How well are learners actively involved in reflecting on their learning so that they are aware of what they need to do next?
Do learners have sufficient opportunities for dialogue with teachers about their progress in achieving their goals and targets?
How can you support children and young people in using assessment evidence to make informed choices and decisions about their learning?
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