Understanding and using assessment and delivering feedback

As a teacher, you will be expected to assess pupils’ work and feed back the results of this assessment to help them to develop. You will also need to use assessment to feed forward into your planning. This is a skill that has to be learned. Teachers tend to be rated highly on general professional knowledge and planning but they do not always make effective use of assessment (Ofsted Annual Reports, cited in Stanley 2007). For teacher trainees, it is perhaps understandable that specific provision for assessment may be left out initially as concerns about presentation of subject content and classroom management can be more pressing. But to become a good teacher you will need to be aware of the importance of assessment for public accountability and will need to understand how assessment can significantly improve teaching
and learning. You will assess pupils both during and after learning. These assessments are usually called assessment for learning (AfL) or formative
assessment, and assessment of learning (AoL) or summative assessment. However:
Assessments in themselves are not inherently formative or summative – it is the process and how the information is used that is important. (DfES 2004: 17)