Di Pardoe

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Assessment for Learning making learning
meaningful
Di Pardoe Wiltshire Assessment Conference
November 2007
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• The aims for the session
• to share and deepen our understanding of
  Assessment for Learning in the context of ECM,
  2020 Vision and the Futures Curriculum
• to consider the potential impact of effective
  practice on learning, teaching, progress and
  achievement
• to explore ways in which schools can further
  develop expertise and build capacity for the
  future in schools
• to engage in professional dialogue

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Today is all about learning How can we define
learning? Learning is
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.you do it and talk about it all the time and
you never really think what it actually
is.. Olivia Year 4
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How?
raised achievement high motivation active
involvement learner autonomy enabling learning
environment
Why?
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• Assessment for Learning..
• .creating a framework for quality dialogue
• Key elements
• Sharing Learning objectives
• Developing success criteria (process and product)
• Use of effective questioning
• Effective feedback
• Pupil self and peer assessment and evaluation
• Debriefing learning
• The active involvement of pupils
  in their own learning

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.I just want work thats not too easy and
not too hard Challenge and support
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Challenge
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S U P P O R T
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The important thing is not so much that every
child is taught, but rather that every child is
given the wish to learn. John Lubbock
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Setting the scene. .the backdrop
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Every Child Matters Change for Children
The Government's aim is for all children and
young people whatever their background or their
circumstances, to have the support they need
to Being healthy- enjoying good physical health
and living a healthy lifestyle Staying safe
being protected from harm Enjoying and
achieving- getting the most out of life and
developing skills for adulthood Making a
positive contribution- being involved with the
community and society and not engaging in anti
social behaviour Achieving economic well - being
not being disadvantaged from achieving their
full potential in life.
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2020 Vision Report of the Teaching and Learning
in 2020 Review Group
Personalising learning and teaching means taking
a highly structured and responsive approach to
each childs and young persons learning, in
order that all are able to progress, achieve and
participate. It means strengthening the link
between learning and teaching by engaging pupils
and their parents as partners in learning
2020 vision, a vision for teaching and
learning in 2020, DfES, 2007
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2020 Vision recommends that schools also need to
ensure that young people develop the skills and
attitudes that employers value

• the ability to communicate orally at a high
  level
• reliability, punctuality and perseverance
• knowing how to work with others in a team
• knowing how to evaluate information critically
• taking responsibility for, and being able to
  manage, ones own learning and developing the
  habits of effective learning

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2020 Vision recommends that schools also need to
ensure that young people develop the skills and
attitudes that employers value

• knowing how to work independently without close
  supervision
• being confident and able to investigate problems
  and find solutions
• being resilient in the face of difficulties
• being creative, inventive, enterprising and
  entrepreneurial

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2020 Vision report

• 5 key strategies for moving learning forward..
• Engineering effective discussions, questions and
  tasks that elicit evidence of learning
• Providing feedback that moves learners forward
• Clarifying and sharing learning intentions and
  criteria for success
• Activating pupils as the owners of their own
  learning
• Activating pupils as resources for one another

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and one big idea

• use evidence about learning to adapt teaching to
  meet the needs of the learners

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What does the word curriculum mean to you? Do
you think of the national curriculum, the subject
programmes of study, a set of content to cover?
If the curriculum is to be inspiring and
challenging and fit for the 21st century, we need
to think of it as something more than that. It
has to be dynamic, responsive to change, relevant
and engaging. QCA Futures in action Building
a 21st Century Curriculum
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Promoting skills across the National Curriculum

• Key skills include..
• Communication
• Improving own learning and performance
• Problem solving
• Working with others
• Thinking skills focus on knowing how as well as
  knowing what
• information processing skills
• reasoning skills
• enquiry skills
• creative thinking skills
• evaluation skills

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"Excellent teaching gives children the life
chances they deserve... Enjoyment is the
birthright of every child. But the most powerful
mix is the one that brings the two together.
Children learn better when they are excited and
engaged - but what excites and engages them best
is truly excellent teaching." Excellence and
enjoyment a strategy for primary schools, May
2003  
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• The aim of the Primary Framework for literacy and
  mathematics is to support and increase all
  children's access to excellent teaching, leading
  to exciting and successful learning
• Children deserve
• to be set appropriate learning challenges
• to be taught well and be given the opportunity to
  learn in ways that maximise their chances of
  success
• to have adults working with them to tackle the
  specific barriers to progress they face.

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.the players and the action
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An effective school is a school full of
effective classrooms (Dylan Wiliam 2007)
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An effective school is a school full of effective
classrooms Most critical variable quality of
the teacher What is it that makes the
difference? Qualifications? Experience? The way
they teach? Way forward improve the
effectiveness of the teachers we havethe love
the one youre with strategy
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What makes a successful lesson/learning
session? Think of a lesson/session which was a
real success. Reflect on your own and write a
brief description Share with your group
Identify and list common features
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If these features/characteristics tell us what
is important. how do we improve the quality of
the learning and teaching so that they feature
regularly in our lessons/learning sessions
Discuss in your group the key strategies that
are needed and create a mind map of your
ideas/thinking
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Towards Successful Learning.
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Dialogue makes the difference.. developing a
language for learning What helps us to
learn? What stops us from learning? What does a
successful learner do? What does a learner need
in order to be successful? What do we need to do
to enable learners to be successful?
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What helps us to learn?
Year 4 Drinking water and having a good
breakfast Having a good nights sleep Working in
pairs or in groups Time to think about what we
are doing Concentrating Listening to the
teacher Asking for help Playing



Knowing
what to do Keeping an open mind People showing us
how to do things Reading books Talking to a
partner about our work Thinking positive! Having
fun!
Group of teachers Stimulating delivery Good
environment physical and emotional Purpose
know what we are trying to learn and our
goal Interest and motivation Enjoyment and
encouragement Repetition, practice and
reflection Appropriate steps and
challenge Possible to achieve All style and
learning are addressed Rewarding
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What stops us from learning?
Year 4 Not coming to school Chatting to a
neighbour when not supposed to Having a bad
memory Feeling down Feeling scared Being
distracted People shouting out Disturbances Noises
Lack of help Time being rushed Bullying/abusive
comments Teacher talking too much Worrying about
family problems
Group of teachers Fear of failure Being unsure
not being or feeling valued Being too tired,
overburdened, hungry, thirsty, worried Not real
or purposeful learning Distractions Noise not
enough space or time wrong environment Not
being interested or motivated Not having the
right resources Not being achievable
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What does a successful learner do? thinks hard

concentrates has a go doesnt
skip school
makes a plan shares ideas
with others works with a partner
finds
out new things always tries hard never says I
cant do it
practises helps other
people talks about work with
has courage a
friend listens
carefully doesnt distract others
has
confidence tells the truth understands what they
have to do
never gives up
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To be a successful learner I need to ...
Have time
Be involved in reviewing and improving my
learning
Know what I am learning
Know why I am learning
Know what I could learn next
Understand how I learn
Know how to improve
Have fun and enjoy my learning!!
Learn with other learners
Feel safe
Have new and varied experiences
Know when and how I have been successful
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Assessment for Teaching Or Assessment for
Learning Its about impact is what we are
doing making a difference?
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• Assessment for Learning..
• .creating a framework for quality dialogue
• Key elements
• Sharing Learning objectives
• Developing success criteria (process and product)
• Use of effective questioning
• Effective feedback
• Pupil self and peer assessment and evaluation
• Debriefing learning
• The active involvement of pupils
  in their own learning

35
2020 Vision report

• 5 key strategies for moving learning forward..
• Engineering effective discussions, questions and
  tasks that elicit evidence of learning
• Providing feedback that moves learners forward
• Clarifying and sharing learning intentions and
  criteria for success
• Activating pupils as the owners of their own
  learning
• Activating pupils as resources for one another

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To enable learners to be successful we need to ...
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Assessment for Learning is is key to
raising achievement integral to effective
learning and teaching an interactive process
between learners and teachers
about learning recognising and
meeting individual learning needs using a range
of strategies which together further learning
an ongoing dialogue about what is being learned,
the purpose of the learning and how well
learners are doing
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• How do we make learning meaningful?
• ..by becoming actively involved
• How do we actively involve learners?
• ..through creating a supportive and challenging
  learning environment
• ..through providing opportunities for learners
  to talk about their learning
• ..through self and peer evaluation and effective
  use of review and reflection time
• ..through enabling learners to make choices and
  decisions about their learning

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successful learning occurs when learners
have ownership of their learning when they
understand the goals they are aiming for when
crucially they are motivated and have the skills
to achieve success. Assessment Reform Group
1999
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Education is a conversation from generation to
generation about matters of significance.
Professor Bart McGettrick 2002
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The biggest and most under used resource
teachers have is each other Scottish
Consultative Council on the Curriculum
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Successful Learning Transferring the
responsibility of the learning to the learner

Learner holds responsibility
Teacher holds responsibility
Model Guide
Negotiate
Independence
Teacher guides learner Teacher asks learners
what they think they need to be
successful Teacher supports learners in seeing
difficulties as part of the learning
process Learners begin to negotiate goals,
targets and success criteria with the teacher
Learners have opportunities to review their own
work Learners begin to give feedback to peers
Learners begin to plan learning and set success
criteria Learners are able to identify successes
and areas for improvement Learners make
improvements to their work independently of the
teacher
Teacher plans learning Teacher sets success
criteria Teacher marks work Teacher gives feedback
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Emotional well-being When children feel at ease,
act spontaneously, are open to the world, express
inner rest and relaxation, show vitality and
self-confidence, are in touch with their feelings
and emotions and enjoy life, we know that their
mental health is secured. Ferre Laevers 2004
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Involvement When children are concentrated and
focused, interested, motivated, fascinated,
mentally active, fully experiencing sensations
and meanings, enjoying the satisfaction of the
exploratory drive and operating at the very
limits of their capabilities, we know that deep
level learning is taking place. Ferre Laevers
2004
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Children learn best through the smiling eyes
of the teacher Professor Bart
McGettrick 2002
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Adding wings to caterpillars does not create
butterflies it creates awkward and
dysfunctional caterpillars. Butterflies are
created through transformation. Hebrew proverb