Roger Sutcliffe, Director of DialogueWorks and Creator of the Thinking Moves A-Z

As Kate Hosey said in her blog post in 2022, some students – perhaps many – can “find it hard to motivate themselves to be more active in their learning”.

There may be various reasons for this, some of which may be related to social trends beyond the classroom. This blog post is not intended to offer a cure for all of those!

What it offers is a simple suggestion, that students might be more engaged with their learning if they saw it as a way of developing skills for life – followed by another, as to how that desired outcome might be reached.

What do we mean by ‘learning’?

The word ‘learning’ is ambiguous between content – what is learnt – which is typically ‘subject’-based, and process – the daily slog, and sometimes satisfaction, of ‘studying’.

Many students, if not most, see learning predominantly as the former – the acquisition of stipulated knowledge, rather than the development of smart skills for life.

But what could be smarter than cognitive – essentially, thinking – skills? (Well, perhaps metacognitive ones – but watch this space!)

If only the teaching and learning process explicitly promoted and practised such skills, then maybe, just maybe, more students would value and engage with the process.

How could this ideal be reached? The key is in the word ‘explicitly’. Any taught lesson, at any level and in any subject, demands of the students a variety of thinking skills. (If not, it cannot be worth its salt!)

How often are these demands spelled out? To be fair, the best teachers will do this, if not in advance of a learning task, then afterwards, by way of explaining how it could have been done better.

But there are still two challenges to be overcome.

Developing a shared language for thinking skills

I recognised the first of these challenges about 15 years ago, when I was commissioned to teach some teachers (more) about thinking skills. It is that there is no common language for teachers and learners to talk about thinking skills, nor indeed any appreciation of the full range of such skills.

That was when I set about creating Thinking Moves A-Z, a list of the 26 most fundamental cognitive skills – which has the further merit of being easy to learn and use.

This scheme enables teachers to be clear what sorts of thinking they are expecting students to practise in any given lesson. Typically, they might highlight two or three metacognitive ‘moves’ per lesson for the students to focus on, but over a term or year they might aim to cover as full a range as possible.

The second challenge is that, ultimately, the aim is for students not only to be more aware of their capacity for different sorts of thinking – what I sometimes call their ‘brain powers’ – but to practise those skills independently: to see themselves as, and indeed to be, ‘good thinkers’.

That, of course, is the point at which those skills can properly be called ‘metacognitive’ – when students are not just thinking about their thinking, but doing so with purpose and with proficiency.

Inspiration, aspiration, and commitment

But I must return to the main question of this blog, namely how to get students to appreciate this ultimate aim, and to engage with it.

As to the appreciation, I have already hinted that simply providing students with a common and complete vocabulary for thinking about thinking is likely to be interesting, if not inspiring, to them.
What student would not be impressed to be told that their brain/mind is capable of 26 different ‘moves’, and indeed has been making them daily – but without their even realising it?

And then what student would not aspire to become better at some, if not all, of these moves – to become ‘good’ at thinking AHEAD (predicting or aiming), for example, or thinking BACK (remembering or reflecting)?

Of course, some students will still need to be encouraged – motivated – to commit themselves to this aspiration, and to the journey involved.

Getting better at EXPLAINING, for example, involves long-term commitment to expanding one’s vocabulary, and to deploying words with care.

Getting better at WEIGHING UP (evaluating) involves deep commitment to open-mindedness and fairness.

And getting better at balancing ZOOMING OUT and ZOOMING IN involves commitment to the move most fundamental for metacognition – being able to step back from time to time and look at the whole picture, before deciding which aspect to focus on next – a balancing cycle we all repeat all the time, again usually without realising it.

Unlocking the full benefits of metacognition

Metacognition is not just the ability to manage your thinking better in various ways. It is the ability, I maintain, to manage your whole self – your feelings and actions as well as your thinking.

That includes the ability to recognise what is in your interest as well as what you are interested in, and to commit to some actions that might not be as appealing as others.

I realise that it is asking a lot of young people to reach the level of self-awareness where they are completely self-motivated in this way. So, I repeat that young people need steady encouragement from their teachers to be better thinkers, as well as just better learners.

But I think that there is an even greater intrinsic value to becoming more metacognitive – more self-aware and more self-managing.

To sum up, then, I am saying that part of motivating students to become metacognitive is to spell out to them what metacognition is, so that they know how they could actively develop that capacity in themselves.

In my next blog post, I will do a bit more explaining of metacognition, since I think it is not as well understood, even by educationalists, as it might be. ‘Thinking about your thinking’ is a good starting explanation, but it lacks some vital ingredients. Other accounts are similarly too narrow, and rather formulaic.

Metacognition is potentially a key to fuller and richer living, not just more proficient learning. It should, then, be a driving concept for all schools and teachers.

Roger Sutcliffe is Director of DialogueWorks and Creator of the Thinking Moves A-Z. He taught at both junior and senior level (English and Maths) for over 25 years, and has been an independent educational consultant, specialising in Philosophy for Children and Teaching Thinking, for the last 25 years. He is a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching.

Roger is currently collaborating with NACE on a four-part course based on the Thinking Moves A-Z, open to schools across all phases and contexts. If you missed the first session, it’s not too late to join! Contact us to arrange access to the recording of Session 1, and live participation in the remaining three sessions.

NACE Associate Dr Jonathan Doherty outlines the focus of this year’s NACE R&D Hub on “oracy for high achievement” – exploring the impetus for this, challenges for schools, and approaches being trialled.

This year one of the NACE Research & Development Hubs is examining the theme of ‘oracy for high achievement’. The Hub is exploring the importance of rich and extended talk and cognitive discourse in the context of shared classroom practice. School leaders and teachers participating in the Hub are seeking to improve the value and effectiveness of speaking and listening. They are developing a body of knowledge about provision and pedagogy for more able learners, sharing ideas and practice and contributing to wider research evidence on oracy through their classroom-based enquiries.

Why focus on oracy?

Oracy is one of the most used and most important skills in schools. To be able to speak eloquently and with confidence, to articulate thinking and express an opinion are all essential for success both at school and beyond. Communication is a vital skill for the 21st century from the early years, through formal education, to employment. It embraces skills for relationship building, resolving conflict, thinking and learning, and social interaction. Oral language is the medium through which children communicate formally and informally in classroom contexts and the cornerstone of thinking and learning. The NACE publication Making Space for Able Learners found that “central to most classroom practice is the quality of communication and the use of talk and language to develop thinking, knowledge and understanding” (NACE, 2020, p.38). 

Oracy is very much at the heart of classroom practice: modern classroom environments resound to the sound of students talking: as a whole class, in group discussions and in partner conversations. Teachers explaining, demonstrating, instructing and coaching all involve the skills of oracy. Planned purposeful classroom talk supports learning in and across all subject areas, encouraging students to: 

• Analyse and solve problems
• Receive, act and build upon answers 
• Think critically
• Speculate and imagine
• Explore and evaluate ideas

Dialogic teaching’ is highly influential in oracy-rich classrooms (Alexander, 2004). It uses the power of classroom talk to challenge and stretch students. Through dialogue, teachers can gauge students’ perspectives, engage with their ideas and help them overcome misunderstandings. Exploratory talk is a powerful context for classroom talk, providing students with opportunities to share opinions and engage with peers (Mercer & Dawes, 2008). It is not just conversational talk, but talk for learning. Given the importance and prevalence of classroom talk, it would be easy to assume that oracy receives high status in the curriculum, but its promotion is not without obstacles to overcome. 

Challenges for schools in developing oracy skills

Covid-19 has impacted upon students’ oracy. A report from the children’s communication charity I CAN estimated that more than 1.5 million UK young people risk being left behind in their language development as a result of lost learning in the Covid-19 period (read more here). The Charity reported that the majority of teachers were worried about young people being able to catch up with their speaking and understanding as a result of the pandemic (I CAN, 2021). 

With origins going back to the 1960s, the term oracy was introduced as a response to the high priority placed on literacy in the curriculum of the time. Rien ne change, with the current emphasis remaining exactly so. Literacy skills, i.e. reading and writing, continue to dominate the curriculum. Oracy extends vocabulary and directly helps with learning to read.  The educationalist James Nimmo Britton famously said that “good literacy floats on a sea of talk” and recognised that oracy is the foundation for literacy. 

Teachers do place value on oracy. In a 2016 survey by Millard and Menzies of 900 teachers across the sector, over 50% said they model the sorts of spoken language they expect of their students, they do set expectations high, and they initiate pair or group activities in many lessons. They also highlighted the social and emotional benefits of oracy and suggested it has untapped potential to support pupils’ employability – but reported that provision is often patchy and that CPD was sparse or even non-existent. 

Another challenge is that oracy is mentioned infrequently in inspection reports. An analysis of reports of over 3,000 schools on the Ofsted database, undertaken by the Centre for Education and Youth in 2021, found that when taken in the context of all school inspections taking place each year, oracy featured in only 8% of reports.

The issue of how oracy is assessed is a further challenge. Assessment profoundly influences student learning. Changes to assessment requirements now provide schools with new freedoms to ensure their assessment systems support pupils to achieve challenging outcomes. Despite useful frameworks to assess oracy such as the toolkit from the organisation Voice 21, there is no accepted system for the assessment of oracy.

What are NACE R&D Hub participants doing to develop oracy in their schools?

The challenges outlined above make the work of participants in the Hub of real importance. With a focus on ‘oracy for high achievement’, the Hub is supporting teachers and leaders to delve deeper into oracy practices in their classrooms. The Hub supports small-scale projects through which they can evidence the impact of change and evaluate their practice. Activities are trialled over a short period of time so that their true impact can be observed in school and even replicated in other schools. 

The participants are now engaged in a variety of enquiry-based projects in their classrooms and schools. These include:

• Use of the Harkness Discussion method to enable more able students to exhibit greater depth of understanding, complexity of response and analytical skills within cognitively challenging learning;
• Explicit teaching of oracy skills to improve independent discussion in science and history lessons;
• Introduction of hot-seating to improve students’ ability to ask valuable questions;  
• Choice in oral tasks to improve the quality of students’ analytical skills;
• Oracy structures in collaborative learning to challenge more able students’ deeper learning and analysis;
• Better reasoning using oracy skills in small group discussion activities; 
• Interventions in drama to improve the quality of classroom discussion.

Share your experience

We are seeking NACE member schools to share their experiences of effective oracy practices, including new initiatives and well-established practices. You may feel that some of the examples above are similar to practices in your own school, or you may have well-developed models of oracy teaching and learning that would be of interest to others. To share your experience, simply contact us, considering the following questions:

• How can we implement effective oracy strategies without dramatically increasing teacher workload?
• How can we best develop oracy for the most able in mixed ability classrooms?
• What approaches are most effective in promoting oracy in group work so that it is productive and benefits all learners? 
• How can we implicitly teach pupils to justify and expand their ideas and make clear opportunities to develop their understanding through talk and deepen their understanding?
• How do we evidence challenge for oracy within lessons?

Teachers should develop students’ spoken language, reading, writing and vocabulary as integral aspects of the teaching of every subject. Every teacher is a teacher of oracy. The report of the All-Party Parliamentary Group inquiry into oracy in schools concluded that there was an indisputable case for oracy as an integral aspect of education. This adds to a growing and now considerable body of evidence to celebrate the place that oracy has in our schools and in our society. Oracy is in a unique place to support the learning and development of more able pupils in schools and the time to give oracy its due is now. 

References

• Alexander, R. J. (2004) Towards dialogic teaching: Rethinking classroom talk. York, UK: Dialogos.
• Britton, J. (1970) Language and learning. London: Allen Lane. [2nd ed., 1992, Portsmouth NH:  Boynton/Cook, Heinemann].
• I CAN (2021) Speaking Up for the Covid Generation. London: I CAN Charity.
• Lowe, H. & McCarthy, A. (2020) Making Space for Able Learners. Didcot, Oxford: NACE.
• Mercer, N. &. Dawes., L. (2008) The Value of Exploratory Talk. In Exploring Talk in School, edited by N. Mercer and S. Hodgkinson, pp. 55–71. London: Sage.
• Millard, W. & Menzies, L. (2016) The State of Speaking in Our Schools. London: Voice 21/LKMco.
• Millard, W., Menzies, L. & Stewart, G. (2021) Oracy after the pandemic: what Ofsted, teachers and young people think about oracy. Centre for Education & Youth/University of Oxford. 
  

Read more: 

• Speaking up: developing oracy for high achievement
• 7 steps to establishing a whole-school oracy culture
• 6 ideas to develop oracy in your school
• Four ways Covid restrictions have affected learning and development

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. 

Naomi Parkhill is Deputy Headteacher for Pastoral Care at The Mulberry House School, which recently attained the NACE Challenge Award for the third time. In this blog post, she shares some of the ways in which the school ensures challenge is embedded throughout all aspects of the school’s provision, for all learners.

At The Mulberry House School we are firm believers that challenge is not something that should be saved solely for the most able pupils, but should be readily available for all. With our school ethos being “We reach high to be the people we want to be, respect ourselves and others and enjoy each new challenge”, it is of utmost importance to us that challenge permeates the very centre of who we are as a school. We have a broad curriculum and value each subject equally. All of our children are encouraged to find their own strength and adopt a growth mindset across both curricular and extracurricular activities. 

Here are our top five tips for putting challenge at the heart of your school.

1. Know what excellence looks like

To challenge pupils to produce the very best work they are capable of, the teacher needs to ensure that they have got a firm understanding of what this looks like, both for the subject/area they are delivering and for the age of the children. This needs to incorporate both knowledge and skills. We have spent a lot of time as a school collaboratively deciding on the standards that we are aiming for; it is important that all staff agree on this in order to provide consistent challenge for all pupils.

2. Share this vision explicitly with learners

Once a decision has been made about what excellence looks like, it is important that we share this with our pupils. It is important to note that this is not limited to sharing examples of excellent work; the children need to know what it is that makes that piece of work excellent. This can be achieved through effective modelling, in which the teacher explains the thought process of an ‘expert’ in the subject as they work, helping to raise the standards of work for all. Another way to empower the children to strive for excellence is through carefully constructed success criteria, which act as a set of instructions to achieve the learning objective, again supporting challenge for all.

3. Empower learners to embrace new challenges

As a growth mindset school we wholeheartedly believe that anyone can improve if they try. A central part of our Mulberry House Way is “Try your best to be your best”. Through instilling this learning attitude in our children from a young age, they are prepared to accept challenges and give everything their maximum effort. Scaffolding plays a key role in supporting our children to achieve excellence. This allows us to provide each child or class with what they need to ensure that they produce the highest quality of work that they can. Allow the children to practise getting things right, then over time remove this support; this will lead to them creating a high standard of work independently.

4. Provide challenging extension and enrichment opportunities

Our recent case study exploring “Enrichment vs Extension” as a means of providing challenge for all – submitted as part of our recent NACE Challenge Award reaccreditation – has been successful in supporting the “challenge for all” aims of the NACE Challenge Development Programme. The outcomes of this case study have enriched the quality-first teaching that we endeavour to deliver. This has, in turn, impacted favourably on our children’s outcomes. We have spent time researching the difference between extension and enrichment opportunities and gaining an understanding of the value of each. We plan and deliver lessons that are centred on enrichment opportunities, with extension activities supporting individual learners to either close gaps or take the next step in their learning.

5. Encourage children to share their opinions

Central to the development of each child across the curriculum is their confidence to share their opinions and thought processes. From an early age we believe it is important to enable our children to explain how they have reached an answer and so the focus is on this rather than simply just providing the “correct” answer. In essence, we have started to embed metacognition, thinking about one’s thinking, in our Key Stage 1 learning. The impact that this has had on both children’s attitudes towards learning and academic outcomes has been significant. We look forward to rolling this out through our EYFS classes and seeing the impact this has.

How does your school provide challenge for all? Contact us to share your experience.

• 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?