“Our world is at a unique juncture in history, characterised by increasingly uncertain and complex trajectories shifting at an unprecedented speed. These sociological, ecological and technological trends are changing education systems, which need to adapt. Yet education has the most transformational potential to shape just and sustainable futures.” (UNESCO, Futures of Education)

NACE welcomed the opportunity to respond to the Curriculum and Assessment Review (which closed for submissions on 22 November), based on our work with thousands of schools across all phases and sectors over the last 40 years.

Our response first emphasised the importance of an overarching, strategic vision for curriculum reform based on:

• Evidence and beliefs about the purposes of education and schooling at this point in the century; 
• Knowledge of human capacities and capabilities and how they are best nurtured and realised;
• Addressing the needs of the present generation while building the skills of future generations;
• An approach that is sustainable and driven and coordinated by national policy;
• Appropriate selection of knowledge/content and teaching methodologies that are fit for purpose and flexibility in curriculum planning and implementation;
• Recognition of system and structural changes in and outside schools to support curriculum reform;
• Acknowledgement of the professional expertise and agency of educators and the importance of school-level autonomy;
• The perspectives and experiences of groups experiencing barriers to learning and opportunity (equity and inclusion).

Core foundations

NACE supports the importance of a curriculum built on core foundations which include:

• “Language capital” (wide-ranging forms of literacy and oracy) – viz evidence supporting the importance of reading, comprehension and vocabulary acquisition in successful learning and their place at the heart of the curriculum
• Numeracy and mathematical fluency
• Critical thinking and problem solving
• Emotional and physical well-being
• Metacognitive and cognitive skills
• Physical and practical skills
• An introduction to disciplinary domains (with a focus not just on content but on initiation into key concepts and processes)

The design of the curriculum needs to allow for the space and time to develop these skills as key threads throughout.

Whilst the current National Curriculum stresses the importance of developing basic literacy and numeracy skills at Key Stage 1, to open the doors to all future learning, schools continue to be pressured by the expectations of the wider curriculum/foundation subjects. This needs to be revisited to ensure that literacy, numeracy and wider skills can be securely embedded before schools expose children to a broader curriculum.

Content: knowledge and competencies

In secondary education an increasingly concept-/process-based approach to delivery of disciplinary fields should be envisaged alongside ‘knowledge-rich’ curriculum models already pervasive in many schools. Core foundation competencies and skills should continue to be developed, ensuring that learners acquire so-called ‘transformative competencies’ such as planning, reflection and evaluation. The curriculum must enshrine the ‘learning capital’ (e.g. language, cultural, social and disciplinary capital) which will enable young people to adapt to, thrive in and ultimately shape whatever the future holds.

Knowledge, skills, attitudes and values are developed interdependently. The concept of competency implies more than just the acquisition of knowledge and skills; it involves the mobilisation of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values in a range of specific contexts to meet complex demands. In practice, it is difficult to separate knowledge and skills; they develop together. Researchers have recognised how knowledge and skills are interconnected. For example, the National Research Council's report on 21st century competencies (2012) notes that “developing content knowledge provides the foundation for acquiring skills, while the skills in turn are necessary to truly learn and use the content. In other words, the skills and content knowledge are not only intertwined but also reinforce each other.”

Consideration needs to be given to breadth versus balance versus depth in curriculum design, alongside the production of guidance which articulates key and ‘threshold’ concepts and processes in subject areas. NACE training and development stresses the importance of teachers and learners understanding the concept of ‘desirable difficulty’ as this is essential in developing resilience and, therefore, supporting wellbeing. It is difficult to provide learners with appropriate levels of challenge/difficulty and time to work through these if curriculum content is over-heavy. In the later stages of schooling a greater emphasis could be placed on interdisciplinary links and advanced critical thinking competencies.

At all stages of education evidence-based approaches to pedagogy and assessment to maximise student learning should be incorporated into curriculum design. Such practices should also incorporate adaptations and recognition of different learning needs and address issues of equity and removing barriers to learning.

Summary

In schools achieving high-quality provision of challenge for all, the design of the curriculum includes planned progression and continuity for all groups of learners through key stages. Where school leaders understand the steps needed to develop deep learning, knowledge and understanding, rich content and secure skills are developed.

The Curriculum Review presents a much-needed opportunity to interrogate the purposes of curriculum and 21st century schooling, the fitness of the current National Curriculum and potential reforms needed. The review must be holistic, vision- and evidence-led, as well as recognising that a ‘national curriculum’ is only one part of the overall learning experience of children. Revised curriculum proposals and their implementation may also rely on reviewing and transforming existing school structures and systems as well as national resourcing issues to ensure more equitable access to high-quality education no matter where young people live and attend school. The proposals must also take account of ongoing teacher supply and quality issues and possible reforms to teacher education and professional development to match the aspirations of an English education system which is equitable, inclusive and one of the best in the world.

Most importantly, the new curriculum proposals must go much further than previously in trying to ensure that all young people leave school equipped to realise their ambitions for their personal and working lives, and to contribute to shaping their own and others’ destinies in a more equitable and caring society, along with the courage to face the unknown challenges which lie ahead.

NACE Research and Development Director Dr Ann McCarthy explores the ethos behind this year’s NACE R&D Hub on the theme “rethinking assessment” – including some key questions for all school leaders and teachers to consider.

“Rethinking assessment” is the focus of one of our NACE Research and Development Hubs this year. The question we are asking ourselves is:

If I rethink an aspect of assessment, to include it as part of the learning process, will more able pupils have a better understanding of the learning process; as such will they exhibit greater depth, complexity or analytic skills in their learning?

Within this Hub, leaders and teachers are seeking to improve the value and effectiveness of assessment. Some are making small changes to classroom practice; others are seeking to make changes within teams; and others are making strategic decisions which include a change in school policies. 

One might ask why this is of interest and indeed necessary when there are so many initiatives being introduced into our schools. The answer is that assessment dominates the learning environment in that it provides summative evaluations and provides instructional feedback to help learners progress. It also has the potential to enable pupils to become powerful, autonomous and self-regulating learners, both now and into the future. 

However, assessment practice does not always benefit more able learners and often detracts from the learning itself. In this article I begin by raising awareness of potential hazards when planning assessment, before thinking about the purpose of assessment and the possibilities open to us if we rethink our own practice.

Tests, examinations and potential hazards

Every year following the publication of examination results we hear the statistics about the change in numbers achieving specific grades. Schools are then judged on the effectiveness of reaching performance thresholds. It is not surprising that curriculum in some schools is at risk of becoming narrow and entirely examination-focused.

For those that oppose the current system, there are arguments that methods for obtaining grades or performance measures should be reviewed and changed. There has been discussion about whether employers and universities understand the endpoint grades. At all stages of learning endpoint grades do not always lead to progression in learning. Prior learning is not always understood as learners move from primary to secondary, Year 11 to sixth form or on to schools, colleges, universities and employment. 

Another issue is that testing does not necessarily respond to the different ways pupils learn, the additional needs they might have or the wider intellectual, developmental or metacognitive gains which might be possible. Pupils with differing learning needs or experiences can find it difficult to demonstrate their skills and abilities within the format of the current assessments. 

More able pupils deserve the highest grades and the expectation from parents and pupils is that this will become a reality. This puts pressure on both the class teacher and school to provide a curriculum which consistently leads to these outcomes. It also places pressure on the pupils to achieve an examination or test standard bounded by a fixed curriculum. Schools carefully package the curriculum into small but connected areas of learning which can be delivered, revised and assessed effectively. 

However, another potential hazard lies in the preparation of the curriculum in that pupils can experience too many assessments. Schools wishing to maintain a prescribed standard each year with a trajectory of performance with the target grade as the endpoint will often use data-driven assessment. Here they risk placing numeric data ahead of meaningful learning. Pupils are then at risk from pressure imposed by continuous high- and low-stakes assessment detached from learning. In the worst-case scenario, more time is invested in measuring learning rather than developing the pupils’ potential. 

Another problem associated with a prescribed endpoint measure is that the assessments which pupils experience throughout the period of instruction mirror the endpoint assessment even though pupils may not have the maturity, linguistic capability or experience to make the greatest learning gains from the experience. This is often seen most clearly in the secondary phase of learning when pupils are given GCSE-style questions as young as age 11. 

Regardless of all these points, the reality is that for all the problems which exist within the current system, we live in a country where our qualifications have international recognition and value. So how then, working within the current constraints, can we help our pupils to become confident and successful learners while avoiding some of these hazards?

What then are we seeking to rethink, if not the system itself?

In rethinking assessment, we seek to enable our pupils to achieve the highest standards; because they have mastered the learning through effective curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment. To achieve this, we need to imagine what pupils have the potential to know, learn, think and do. We also need to think beyond the limitations of compulsory prescribed content. We can enable more able pupils with their variety of backgrounds, learning needs and potential to acquire a deeper understanding of subject, context, applications, and of their own learning. We can provide pupils with more information about the nature of learning and their own learning so that they feel in control of the process.

Deciding the purpose of assessment 

When rethinking assessment, it must align with the educational philosophy held by all stakeholders. Different schools will adopt different approaches to assessment, but the most effective practices exist when the purpose of assessment is clearly articulated and understood. It works well when there is consistent practice, which not only informs the teaching but also facilitates learning and engages pupils in their learning. Assessment should not create an additional workload, nor should it be focused on the acquisition of data which is detached from learning.

There have been many attempts to characterise good assessment practice. An example here comes from The Assessment Reform Group who summarised the characteristics of assessment that promotes learning using the following seven principles:

1. It is embedded in a view of teaching and learning of which it is an essential part;
2. It involves sharing learning goals with pupils;
3. It aims to help pupils to know and to recognise the standards they are aiming for;
4. It involves pupils in self-assessment;
5. It provides feedback which leads to pupils recognising their next steps and how to take them;
6. It is underpinned by confidence that every student can improve;
7. It involves both teacher and pupils reviewing and reflecting on assessment data. 

Broadfoot et al., 1999, p. 7

 When planning formative assessment teachers may want to reflect on the view expressed by Black and Wiliam that it is:

“the extent that evidence about student achievement is elicited, interpreted, and used by teachers, learners, or their peers, to make decisions about the next steps in instruction that are likely to be better, or better founded, than the decisions they would have taken in the absence of the evidence that was elicited.”

Black & Wiliam, 2009, p. 9

When deciding the purpose of assessment, we need to be clear about the way in which it will feed information back into the learning process. Students need to understand themselves as learners and know what else they need to learn. This moves us away from activities which are pressured and demotivating. It moves us towards assessment choices which increase motivation and focus. Good assessment practice will allow pupils to take greater control of their learning when they understand the level of challenge, can set themselves challenges and utilise information or feedback to make progress. 

When you rethink assessment:

• How would you summarise the characteristics of good assessment in your school?
• What is the purpose of the planned assessments?
• What impact will they have on learning and progress?
• What impact will assessment have on teaching?
• How will pupils use the assessment and feedback to regulate their own learning

To what extent will authentic assessment enhance learning?

Authentic assessment practices are seen to be favourable by linking the classroom to wider experience. However, there are a wide range of views on what this might look like. We often see examination questions which are set within a “real life context”. The difficulty with this approach is that the questions become complicated and often distract the pupils from the learning rather than contributing to it. Gulikers, Bastiaens and Kirschner proposed assessment which relates more directly to the context in which the learning might be experienced. Their model enabled:

“students to use the same competencies, or combinations of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that they need to apply in the criterion situation in professional life.”

Gulikers et al, 2004, p. 69

Litchfield and Dempsey (2015), proposed authentic assessment would lead to in-depth learning and the application of knowledge. Assessment activity becomes meaningful, interesting and collaborative. Through authentic practice pupils can develop a greater range of learning attributes. They become more active learners using critical thinking, problem solving and metacognitive strategies.

Whether or not we use the idea of authentic assessment as a driver for our assessment practices, we would all agree that we want pupils to engage in meaningful and interesting activities. If our assessment practices sit within the learning process and enable pupils to work collaboratively to achieve more, then the assessment activity and the learning activity can combine to improve the quality of learning and cognitive development. 

Evaluating our practice

Once a decision has been made to rethink assessment, we need to revisit our aims and principles.

Do your aims and principles:

• Promote assessment as integral to learning and the shaping of future learning? 
• Promote high expectations for all pupils and ensure assessment places no inadvertent ceiling on achievement?
• Value and represent achievement for all pupils across the breadth and depth of the curriculum using a variety of approaches?
• Recognise that assessment needs to be constructive, motivate pupils, extend learning, and develop resilient, independent learners?
• Take account of how the expanding knowledge of the science of how pupils learn is changing modes of assessing what pupils know?

These principles are used by NACE members to audit assessment practice in their schools. Here we can see how the pupil is catered for within the process. We seek to help the pupil to become more resilient, resourceful and independent. We want both the pupil and the teacher to have realistic high expectations so that there is no ceiling on learning but also no undue pressure by praising the outcome over the effort. 

The assessment itself is integral to the learning process. The assessment shapes the learning and the learner. It guides the teacher’s practice and is dependent on a good understanding of both the curriculum and cognition. By rethinking assessment we can still achieve the endpoint measures but also go beyond this to create an environment for learning which nourishes and develops each individual.

Metacognition and assessment

If we are truly committed to using assessment as a practice integral to learning and as a learning tool for both teacher and pupil, we need a good knowledge of the curriculum, the connections between areas of learning, potential for depth and breadth of learning beyond the limitations of core curriculum, cognition and cognitive processes. When assessment practices enable pupils to develop metacognition and metacognitive skills, they will be able to respond well to new experiences and learning.

Dunlosky and Metcalfe (2009) describe three processes of metacognition: knowledge, monitoring, and control.

• Knowledge: understanding how learning works and how to improve it.
• Monitoring: self-assessment of understanding, 
• Control: any required self-regulation.

I would argue that rethinking assessment should be driven by our increased understanding of metacognition. Self-assessment skills sit at the heart of metacognitive competencies. If we view metacognition as “thinking about thinking” or “learning about learning” we can then see that the pupils need answers to some questions.

• What should I be thinking about? 
• What do I need to know? 
• Am I understanding this material at the level of competency needed for my upcoming challenge?
• What am I trying to learn?
• How am I learning?
• Do I need to change my focus?
• Do I need to change my learning strategy?

Self-assessment is a core metacognitive skill that links understanding of learning and how to improve it to the development of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is a person’s belief in an ability to succeed in a particular situation. Self-efficacy is the product of experience, observation, persuasion, and emotion. If pupils learn to monitor their developing competencies and control their cognitive strategies, they will be able to organise and execute the actions needed to respond to new learning experiences. 

Next steps for teachers and leaders

All schools, regardless of outcomes, will review and evaluate practice each year. As a part of this it is important to revisit assessment practices within the classroom, across subjects and phases and at a whole-school strategic level.

Within the classroom the teacher can begin by imagining small changes which can lead to a better learning experience and a greater impact on learning and metacognition. These changes might include:

• Changes to recall practices with acquired vocabulary or knowledge being used in different contexts;
  
• Organisation of collaborative learning groups where understanding can be observed through pupils’ interaction;
• Pre-planned “big questions” and extended questioning which challenges understanding;
• Independent research, challenges or project work;
• Changes to feedback and response activities;
• Use of entry and exit tickets;
• Use of “cutaway” learning models;
• Pupil-led diagnostic responses;
• Pupil self-selected challenge and extension activities;
• Whole-class marking, feedback and active response.

Many of these are possibly in use at present but they have greatest impact when planned within the lesson structure and used consistently so that teachers and pupils share an understanding of learning and learning potential. When planning within a subject or phase, a strategy which is shared between teachers and understood by pupils will reap the greatest rewards. If pupils know what they are doing and why they are doing it, they will recognise the importance of the activity. When activities combine cumulatively to improve knowledge, learning and understanding of both subject and self, then pupils will make the greatest gains.

The preparation for endpoint examination then appears in the final months of study, when the format of the testing is explained, shared and practised; not to increase knowledge and understanding, but to secure outcomes. Pupils will be able to approach this preparation, as they would any testing or competitive situation, as training and warm-up for the final event. Their education as a whole having been confident and secure, they will approach this new challenge with a sense of purpose and self-belief.

So how then can leaders manage a whole-school strategy? This can often prove an obstacle when planning to make change. Leaders must know how well pupils are progressing, how well the curriculum is being delivered and the quality of teaching in the classroom. This is where school ethos, aims and principles are important. By agreeing a model for assessment practice which does not overload teachers but provides evidence of the quality of education, leaders can themselves adopt the same assessment and evaluation models as they use in their classrooms. 

When teachers all work towards a common and agreed framework for curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment, pupils do not need to be tested to measure teacher performance. High-quality professional development, dialogue and collaboration supports high-quality practice. Good-quality systems provide the narrative which expose the quality of learning and performance within the school. It is the responsibility of school leaders to create a narrative which can be evidenced through consistency of belief and practice in all classrooms. The conversation then returns to learning and teaching and individual pupils’ needs or aspirations rather than numeric data tracking.

Whatever style of data tracking and targets a school chooses to use, it is important to keep the pupils and their learning at the centre of the conversation.

Taking steps to rethink assessment

The NACE “Rethinking Assessment” R&D Hub is supporting teachers and leaders to take a small step in making a change in practice. The Hub supports those wishing to plan a small-scale project through which they can evidence the impact of change. Here we can see how activities which may be evident in other schools can be trialled over a short period of time so that their true impact can be observed. Teachers and leaders participating in the Hub are engaged in a variety of activities as they seek to rethink assessment practices in their classrooms and schools. These include:

• Improving pupils’ understanding of assessment by providing greater guidance;
• Enabling pupils to respond well to questions which have greater stretch and challenge;
• Make better use of feedback and individual response activities;
• Reconfiguring the sequence of assessment so that there is a more coherent structure;
• Developing assessment strategies for project-based learning which enable pupils to challenge themselves and extend their knowledge; 
• Making use of “what if…” questions and developing teachers’ skills in new ways of assessing the responses;
• Refining the language of feedback so that pupils can extend and deepen thinking;
• Updating marking and feedback policies and strategies so that there is a whole-staff appreciation of effective practice;
• Improving the use of disciplinary language within teaching, learning and assessment;
• Planning assessments within a metacognitive model.

The ideas proposed for rethinking assessment in all these schools build on existing good practice. Teachers have examined the context within their schools and evaluated the impact of current practice. From this they hypothesised on elements of practice which could be improved, replaced or refined. They are now seeking to enhance existing good practice to meet the aims and principles as discussed. Regardless of your position in the school it is possible to revisit your assessment practices.

Share your experience with others

• Do you routinely use an assessment practice or approach which helps you to assess, monitor or evaluate learning well? 
• Do you have a good assessment strategy which you can share which enables pupils to learn well or helps them to improve their performance? 
• Do you have some advice for others which you can share?
• Can you describe some changes to classroom assessment practices which have improved learning?
• Can you share a whole-school assessment strategy which has made a difference in your school?

If you feel you can add to the conversation, please contact us so we can help to share your successes with the wider NACE community.

References

• Black, P. J., & Wiliam, D. (2009). Developing the theory of formative assessment. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 21(1), 5-31.
• Broadfoot, P. M., Daugherty, R., Gardner, J., Gipps, C. V., Harlen, W., James, M., & Stobart, G. (1999). Assessment for learning: beyond the black box. Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge School of Education.
• Dunlosky, J. & Metcalfe, J. (2009). Metacognition. Sage Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA.
• Gulikers, J. T., Bastiaens, T. J., & Kirschner, P. A. (2004). A five-dimensional framework for authentic assessment. Educational technology research and development, 52(3), 67-86.
• Litchfield, B. C., & Dempsey, J. V. (2015). Authentic assessment of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2015(142), 65-80. 

Sue Jenkins, Head of Years 10 and 11, and Hannah Wilcox, Deputy Head of Years 10 and 11, share five reasons they’ve found The Day an invaluable resource for tutor time activities.

Howell’s School, Llandaff, is an independent school in Cardiff which educates girls aged 3-18 and boys aged 16-18. It is part of the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST). 

The Day publishes daily news articles and resources with the aim of help teachers inspire students to become critical thinkers and better citizens by engaging their natural curiosity in real-world problems. We first came across it as a library resource and recognised its potential for pastoral activities when the length of our tutor time sessions was extended to allow more discussion time and flexibility in their use. 

Post-Covid, it has never been more important to promote peer collaboration, discussion and debate in schools. There is an ever-increasing need for students to select, question and apply their knowledge when researching; it has never been more important for students to have well-developed thinking and analytical skills. We find The Day invaluable in helping us to prompt students to discuss and understand current affairs, and to enable those who are already aware to extend and debate their understanding. 

Here are five key pastoral reasons why we would recommend subscribing to The Day:

1. Timely, relevant topics throughout the year

You will always find a timely discussion topic on The Day website. The most recent topics feature prominently on the homepage, and a Weekly Features section allows you to narrow down the most relevant discussion topic for the session you are planning. Assembly themes, such as Ocean Day in June, are mapped across the academic year for ease of forward planning. We particularly enjoyed discussing the breakaway success of Emma Raducanu in the context of risk-taking, and have researched new developments in science, such as NASA’s James Webb telescope, in the week they have been launched.

2. Supporting resources to engage and challenge students

The need to involve and interest students, make sessions straightforward for busy form tutors, and cover tricky topics, combine to make it daunting to plan tutor time sessions – but resources linked to The Day’s articles make it manageable. Regular features such as The Daily Poster allow teachers to appeal to all abilities and learning styles with accessible and interesting infographics. These can also be printed and downloaded for displays, making life much easier for academic departments too. One of the best features we’ve found for languages is the ability to read and translate articles in target languages such as French and Spanish. Reading levels can be set on the website for literacy differentiation, and key words are defined for students to aid their understanding of each article.

3. Quick PSHE links for busy teachers

Asked to cover a class at the last minute? We’ve all been there! With The Day, you are sure to find a relevant subject story to discuss within seconds, and, best of all, be certain that the resources are appropriate for your students. With our Year 10 and 11 students, we have covered topics such as body image with the help of The Day by prompting discussion of Kate Winslet’s rejection of screen airbrushing. Using articles is particularly useful with potentially difficult or emotive issues where students may be more able to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of certain attitudes by looking at news events, detaching themselves from but also gaining insight about the personal situations they may be experiencing. The PSHE programme is vast; it is great to use The Day to plan tutor time sessions and gives us the opportunity to touch on a wide range of issues relatively easily.

4. Motivational themes brought to life through real stories

We have also found The Day’s articles useful for providing examples of motivational themes for our year groups. The Themes Calendar is particularly useful here; for example, tutor groups discussed the themes of resilience and diversity using the article on Preet Chandi’s trek to the South Pole. If you’re looking for assembly inspiration, The Day is a great starting point.

5. Develop oracy, thinking and research skills through meaningful debate

Each article has suggested tasks and discussion questions which we have found very useful for planning tutor time activities which develop students’ oracy, thinking and research skills. The Day promotes high-level debates about environmental, societal and political issues which students are keen to explore. One recent example is the discussion of privacy laws and press freedom prompted by the article about Rebel Wilson’s forced outing by an Australian newspaper. Activities can be easily adapted or combined to promote effective discussion. ‘Connections’ articles contain links to similar areas of study, helping teachers to plan and students to see the relevance of current affairs.

Find out more…

NACE is partnering with The Day on a free live webinar on Thursday 30 June, providing an opportunity to explore this resource, and its role within cognitively challenging learning, in more detail. You can sign up here, or catch up with the recording afterwards in our webinars library (member login required).

Plus: NACE members can benefit from a 20% discount on annual subscriptions to The Day. For details of this and all current member offers, take a look at our member offers page (login required). 

• How does it link to whole school vision?
• Where does it sit inside the model for curriculum, teaching and learning?
• Who is the assessment for?
• What is the plan for assessment?
• What types of assessment can be used?
• What is going to be assessed?
• What evidence will result from the assessment?
• How will the evidence be used or interpreted?
• How can assessment information be used by teacher and pupil?
• What impact does assessment information have on teaching and learning?
• How does assessment impact on cognition, cognitive strategies, metacognition and personal development?

Example 1: “purple pen” at Toot Hill School

• Immediate feedback (live) – at the point of teaching
• Summary feedback – at the end of a phase of knowledge application/topic/assessment
• Review feedback – away from the point of teaching (including personalised written comments) 

• Annotate purposeful learning steps;
• Make notes when listening to key learning points;
• Respond to whole-class feedback;
• Facilitate peer assessment;
• Respond to teacher marking;
• Question and develop themes to achieve learning objectives;
• Recognise key vocabulary;
• Explain learning processes. 

Example 2: “closing the loop” at Eggar’s School

• Reflect on attainment over the course of the year, comparing pieces of work by the same student over time;
• Compare attainment between year groups and ask: Has teaching improved? Are there different needs / interventions required in the current cohort compared with those of previous years?
• Get a snapshot of a student’s work.

• The uniformity of the layout of the feed-forward sheets is helping students to understand the feed-forward process.
• Completion of the feed-forward sheets was originally time-consuming, but is now taking less time.
• In feed-forward lessons live modelling is being used rather than pre-prepared models.
• More prepared models are created in advance of assessment points as guidelines/reference tools for students.
• Prepared models are used after formal assessment as a comparison for students to use when self- or peer-assessing their performance.
• The specific focus in the feed-forward sheets on SPaG has been a helpful reminder to utilise micro-moments in lessons to consolidate technical skills.
• The teacher uses a ‘Students of Concern’ section (not visible to students) to provide additional support and interventions and to reflect on the success of any previous intervention.
• ‘Closing the Loop’ books have been introduced and have become a powerful tool in improving the value of assessment as a teaching and learning experience. These use a template for whole-class feedback and enable teachers to keep a track record of assessments and a track of their intentions in terms of adaptations to teaching as a result of assessment information about students’ knowledge, understanding and progress.

“Rethinking assessment” across the NACE community

• A focus on understanding personal development – considering ways in which pupils’ overall experience and development can be better understood and supported, as part of assessment.
• Retrieval introduced as a core and explicit part of lesson sequences and schemes of work.
• The use of science practical activities linked to examination questions, to expose pupils to desirable difficulties. These reveal pupils’ knowledge and skills; support development and progress; and provide information needed to scaffold support at an individual level.
• Changes to reporting introduced to empower pupils, as well as informing leaders, teachers and parents.
• Developing the use of Rosenshine’s principles with a focus on higher-order questioning; this challenges more able pupils to think more deeply, extends their thinking, and has demonstrable benefits for other pupils in a mixed ability classroom.
• Models of excellence shared with pupils.
• Use of film resources and extended book study to encourage critical thinking and application of skills.

 

Key factors for successful implementation

Share your experience

• Which area of assessment is used most effectively?
• What assessment practices are having the greatest impact on learning?
• How do teachers and pupils use the assessment information?
• How do you develop an understanding of pupils’ overall development?
• How do you use assessment information to provide wider experience and developmental opportunities?
• Is assessment developing metacognition and self-regulation?
  

• Planning effective assessment to support cognitively challenging learning
• How can a focus on metacognition lead to more effective assessment practices in the classroom?

Dawn Woods, Member Development Librarian, and Hannah Groves, Marketing and Communications Officer, School Library Association

If there is one subject a librarian can help teaching colleagues with, it is definitely history. From providing engaging reads for primary pupils to assisting with A-Level research for the curriculum or supporting EPQ projects, the school library is home to a wealth of resources.

For primary pupils, a history topic may start with a novel set during the period to be studied. Historical novels take the reader back to explore how life was during that time and can help explain the historical context. Library staff will be able to suggest a range of suitable titles to help with this, whatever the period.

GCSE-level students will be expected to read around the subject to complete their homework, and so the librarian will introduce pupils to the library catalogue to help them locate the resources available to them. As well as hardcopy books, e-books and online journals will be catalogued under subject headings, so students searching for their history topic are alerted to what the library holds on that subject, whatever the media format. By the time students are on their A-Level course, they will be using these to research curriculum topics and, in the case of the EPQ, on topics of their own choice.

Here are three key ways your school library can support the teaching of history:

1. Use the library catalogue as a research tool

School library staff will teach students that the library catalogue is a gateway to resources in many formats, all grouped under keyword headings, preparing our young people for independent learning. Once students go on to university they will require this very skill, so they will be well prepared for further study. 

2. Share curated content and resources

Some libraries may present students with resources as a reading list, some may have Padlets or other online presentations. The value of these online presentations is that they take pupils directly to the sites librarians have already earmarked as useful for the topic. As Padlets contain all types of content – whether that be text, documents, images, videos or weblinks – librarians can bring together a wide range of material for a particular class or year group and subject. For example, this Padlet on ‘history for all ages’ contains reading lists as well as weblinks to safe sites for primary and secondary students. This means that young people are not wasting time finding unsuitable resources, which may lead them to the wrong conclusions.

3. Subscribe to online journals

If your school offers the EPQ, where older secondary students choose their own topic, students must research this themselves. The library is integral to this and subscriptions to online journals can help enormously here. The topic students are researching may be very specific and not generally covered in published books which, by the very nature of going through the publishing process, take a long time to be available. Research written up in journals is current and academically verified, so with a subscription to a resource such as JSTOR students have access to “peer-reviewed scholarly journals, respected literary journals, academic monographs, research reports, and primary sources from libraries’ special collections and archives.” [Another example is Hodder’s Review magazines, which NACE members recently trialled.]

The school library and library staff are your friends when teaching history to learners of any age, so do make sure you use their resources to save time for all.

About the School Library Association

The School Library Association (SLA) is a charity that works towards all schools in the UK having their own (or shared) staffed library. Our vision is for all school staff and children to have access to a wide and varied range of resources and have the support of an expert guide in reading, research, media and information literacy. To find out more about what the SLA could do for you, visit our website, follow us on Twitter, or get in touch.

Read more:

• Diversifying the history curriculum: how to embed challenge and confront misconceptions
• How can we identify and challenge more able learners in history?
• 3 ways to challenge more able students in secondary history