Assessment for Learning

Merton Primary Languages Conference

Merton Conference 28 March 2014 (PPT)

Introduction (pdf)
Handouts 1-15 (pdf)
KS2 Y6 transition survey (pdf)
Transition document (pdf)
Reflection and action planning (pdf)

Assessment for/with/of learning

Assessment for/with/of Learning (PPT)

AfL Handout 1 (pdf)
AfL Handout 2 (pdf)
AfL Handout 3 (pdf)
AfL Handout 4 (pdf)
AfL Handout 5 (pdf)
AfL Handout 6 (pdf)
AfL Handout 7 (pdf)
AfL Handout 8 (pdf)

QCDA French Exemplification - part 1 (zip)
QCDA French Exemplification - part 2 (zip)
QCDA French Exemplification - part 3 (zip)
QCDA German Exemplification (zip)
QCDA Spanish Exemplification (zip)

The materials below explore some of my thinking about Assessment for Learning.

Session 1: Assessing to learn and learning to assess: what should assessment look like in the languages classroom?

The session offers a practical look at what research says about assessment, what Ofsted views as ‘outstanding’ assessment to support languages learning, and what students themselves want from assessment. The session includes classroom strategies for setting meaningful learning objectives, making learning explicit for and transparent to learners, as well as teaching ideas for enabling students to understand what they are aiming for; to evaluate their own progress; to identify their next steps and to make identifiable progress.

Session 2: A time and a place for everything: How and when to use formative, summative, periodic (and dynamic?) assessment

This session aims to balance ‘meaningful’ with ‘manageable’ assessment. We look at how best to meet the competing expectations of SMT, parents and students when it comes to assessment. How often, when and what to mark, test and feed back. How to organize teaching to facilitate day-to-day assessment. These are not easy questions and the ‘right’ answers will vary between schools. Above all, though, what we do in terms of assessment should make sense in terms of the learning, and for that we must be secure in our knowledge of what progression in language learning looks like. In this practical session we look at some approaches that have been tried, and share further examples of successful practice.