Reflective Practice
Assessment for Learning in the Inclusive
Classroom

Learning Objectives
You will:
• Consolidate your understanding of AfL;
• Consolidate your understanding of effective feedback;
• Share good AfL and feedback practice both within your subject and across the curriculum;
• Review your practice of AfL and feedback, identifying successes and strategies for
improvement;
• Know where to access furty

Standards Tracker
• 2. Promote good progress and outcomes by pupils:
• Be accountable for attainment, progress and outcomes of the pupils;
• Plan teaching to build on pupils’ capabilities and prior knowledge;
• Guide pupils to reflect on the progress they have made and their emerging needs
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how pupils learn and how this impacts on teaching;
• Encourage pupils to take a responsible and conscientious attitude to their work and study
• 5. Adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils:
• Have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils
• 6. Make accurate and productive use of assessment:
• Know and understand how to assess the relevant subject and curriculum areas
• Make use of formative and summative assessment to secure pupils’ progress;
• Use relevant data to monitor progress, set targets, and plan subsequent lessons;
• Give pupils regular feedback, both orally and through accurate marking, and encourage pupils to respond to the feedback

What is AfL?
‘Assessment for learning is… the process of seeking and interpreting evidence
for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their
learning, where they need to go and how best to get there.’
Assessment Reform Group (2002)

Why Use AfL in Your Classroom?
AfL helps pupils to:
• understand the reason and focus for learning;
• recognise success in learning;
• identify and work towards a goal; and
• understand how to make improvements and achieve their goals.

CONSOLIDATION
• Was there evidence of re-cap?
• Were Lesson Outcomes regularly reviewed?
• Was there evidence of regular checks on
understanding? What form did these take?
• Did the activities engage and inform pupils?
• Mini/Mid Plenaries and appropriate summary
evident?
OUTCOME
• What will the pupils have at the end of the
lesson?
• How will it be used next?
• Were the outcomes stated and how far were
they met?
• Was understanding tested and/or assessed? In
what way?
QUESTIONING
• Type and nature of questioning?
• Was AfL evident in questioning?
• Did questioning prompt discussion and deeper
learning?
• Did pupils question each other?
• Was there a link between questioning and lesson
outcomes/consolidation/development of
understanding?
• Did pupils understand the value of questioning
as a way of making progress?
PUPIL VOICE
• Did pupils have an opportunity to participate in
the lesson? Was there evidence of pupil-led
activity?
• Was there evidence of pairs/group work? Were
good responses evident in this work?
• Did pupil voice lead to better quality learning?
How was this exemplified?
• What impact did pupil voice have on
relationships between all those engaged in the
lesson?
PROGRESS
IN
LESSON

Task (1)
In pairs, list a range of assessment of and for learning techniques under the
headings ‘formative’ and ‘summative assessment’, along with the function of
each.
(5 minutes)

Assessment of and for Learning
Summative Assessment
• - occurs after the learning
• - to prove learning
• - measures learning
• - done to learners
• - widens the ability range…
• - externally referenced
• - outcome focused
Formative Assessment
• - occurs during the learning
• - to improve learning
• - grows learning
• - done with learners
• - narrows the ability range
• - personally referenced
• - process focused

Assessment of and for Learning
Summative Assessment Formative Assessment

AfL’s Main Elements
• Learning Intentions
• Success Criteria
• Formative Feedback
• Effective Questioning
• Peer- and Self-Assessment and Self-Evaluation

© PMB 2007
Learning, Teaching &
Assessment Cycle
Improvement
Planning
Learning
Intentions
Input
Success
Criteria
Learning
Activity
Formative
Feedback
Peer & Self-
Assessment &
Evaluation
AfL in the Classroom

Effective Feedback
For feedback to be effective for students, they need the following:
• an understanding of the desired goal
• evidence about their present position in relation to that goal
• guidance on the way to close the gap between the two

John Hattie: Visible Learning (2009)
‘To be effective, feedback needs to be clear, purposeful, meaningful and compatible
with students’ prior knowledge, and to provide logical connections.’
‘If feedback is directed at the right level, it can assist students to comprehend, engage,
or develop effective strategies to process the information intended to be learnt.’
‘Thus, when feedback is combined with effective instruction in classrooms, it can be
very powerful in enhancing learning.’

Effective feedback should…
• focus on what is being learnt (learning objective) and how students should go
about it (success criteria)
• occur as the students are doing the learning
• provide information on how and why the student has or has not met the criteria
• provide strategies to help the student to improve
• Be initiated by the learner (some of the time)

A typology of feedback
In 1996 Pat Tunstall and Caroline Gipps developed a typology of teacher
feedback by recording and classifying the feedback given by teachers to their
students. They classified feedback as either:
• evaluative – involving a value judgment
or
• descriptive – describing what the student said or did, and providing guidance
for improvement

Evaluative feedback
Evaluative feedback involves a judgment by the teacher based on implicit or
explicit norms.
Evaluative feedback may take the form of:
Approval: “That’s a good essay.” “You’ve done well.”
Disapproval: “That’s not good enough.”
Reward: Gold stars
Punishment: “Write it out again.”

Descriptive feedback
Descriptive feedback:
• focuses on identified learning outcomes and makes specific reference to the
student’s achievement.
• looks towards improvement.
An example of descriptive feedback:
“That’s a good introduction because you have covered the main points we
discussed at the beginning. Now … which points do you think you should
expand on?”

Types of descriptive feedback
Clarke (2003) suggests three types of prompts for providing feedback,
dependent on the needs of the student:
1. Reminder prompt
2. Scaffold prompt
3. Example prompt
Remember, prompts need to be focused around the learning objective of the
task.

Prompts
Reminder prompts:
• How could you make the description of the character more striking?
Remember the rule about circles we talked about?
Scaffold prompts:
• Why don’t you try using a simile to describe how he eats?
What about the rule which says that the area of a circle is ∏r²?
Example prompts:
• Why don’t you use a simile to describe your character? Try ‘He gulped down his
food like a pelican’.
Calculate using ∏r². Multiply 27 x 27 then …

Feedback in summary
Effective feedback to learners:
• is best initiated by the learner
• focuses on the learning objective of the task
• occurs as the students are doing the learning
• provides information on how and why the student understands and misunderstands
• provides strategies to help the student to improve
• assists the student to understand the goals of the learning.

Further information
• Inside the Black Box, Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment (Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam, 1998)
• Enriching Feedback in the Primary Classroom (Shirley Clarke, 2003)
• Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom (Shirley Clarke, 2005)
• Formative Assessment in Action: Weaving the Elements Together (Shirley Clarke, 2005)
• Visible Learning (John Hattie, 2009)
• Teacher Feedback to Young Children in Formative Assessment: A Typology (Pat Tunstall and Caroline Gripps, 1996)
• Assessment and Learning in the Secondary School (Ted Wragg, 2001)

Task (2)
Group work (mixed subjects) 20 minutes
• List the successful AfL and feedback techniques you have used with G&T, SEN and EAL pupils.
• Which techniques were best suited to each group and why?
• List the less successful AfL and feedback techniques with these groups. Why were these less successful?
If you have time…
• Consider issues with AfL and feedback, such as:
• Conflicts with whole-school and/or departmental marking policy
• How its fit in with literacy across the curriculum
• To grade or not to grade
• Increase in workload
• Effective self and peer assessment
• Can summative assessment be used as an AfL technique?
• How have you (or your school) addressed one or more of these issues? If so, how?

Task (3)
Group work (subject specific/complementary)
30 mins
• Share the information from the previous task
• Prepare a report/presentation to share with the rest of the group which considers:
• AfL and feedback techniques for G&T, SEN and EAL pupils best suited to your
subject/curriculum area;
• Any AfL and feedback techniques for these groups used in other subjects that can be
applied to your subject;
• (Extension) AfL issues in your subject/curriculum area and how they can be addressed.

Task (4)
Reflection
• Complete the reflection form and accompanying action plan
• Load the completed form on to Mahara as evidence

Learning Outcomes
You should have:
• Consolidated your understanding of AfL;
• Consolidated your understanding of effective feedback;
• Shared good AfL and feedback practice for G&T, SEN and EAL pupils both within your
subject and across the curriculum;
• Reviewed your practice of AfL and feedback, identifying successes and strategies for
improvement;
• A suggested reading list for further information.