Assessment for Learning Image

Assessment for Learning

The Northern Ireland Curriculum embraces the principles of Assessment for Learning by placing formative assessment at the heart of the learning and teaching cycle. The emphasis is on improvement, raising achievement in pupils' learning and celebrating success. Assessment for Learning has the potential to make a powerful contribution to the central aim of the Northern Ireland curriculum by empowering learners and enabling them to realise their full potential.

View Assessment for Learning clip from DVDThis excerpt from the 'Planning for Implementation' DVD introduces the main concepts of Assessment for Learning.

 

Five Key Actions of Assessment for Learning

 

1. Sharing Learning Intentions

Agreed learning intentions gives students a deeper understanding and ownership of their own learning process. This brings increased motivation and the desire to stay on task for a longer period of time.

2. Sharing and Negotiating Success Criteria

Created by pupils or in conjunction with teachers, clear success criteria aid self-assessment and helps identify the steps needed to complete a task.

3. Feedback

This is essential for effective learning and teaching. Strategies such as ‘2 stars and a wish’, comment-only marking or providing prompts for improvement, can help plan the next steps in learning.

4. Effective Questioning

Using more open-ended questions, giving more thinking time, using pair share and so on can help pupils feel more confident to put forward new ideas, think out loud, explain their reasons and explore their understanding.

5. How Pupils Reflect on their Learning

(Peer and Self-Assessment and Self-Evaluation)

Allows pupils to reflect on what they have learnt and how they have learnt it. Using strategies such as traffic lights, thumbs up or useful thinking prompts can encourage pupil self-evaluation.