Teachers' and students' roles in formative assessment
This digest found in
Assessment for Learning
How did teachers' practice change and what challenges remain?
Some teachers felt quite comfortable with the transfer of responsibility to students. Others did not find it easy and felt they had lost some control over classroom activities. In some cases teachers expressed concern about the extra time pressure they anticipated. Evidence, however, showed that time spent on formative assessment was time well spent:
'...I am convinced that it is worth sacrificing the odd 'extension' piece of work, or even the odd small section of the syllabus, in order to ensure that what is covered is well understood.'
The researchers observed that the development of formative assessment practices in classrooms had effects at a number of levels. The first benefit was the improvement in revision and learning techniques and consequent gains in confidence of pupils. Secondly, teachers were enthusiastic about selecting and using assessment methods to enhance their teaching At a third and deeper level some teachers were changing the way they taught from 'delivery of learning' to 'guiding and coaching students' own learning activity':
'The exciting thing for me is that strategies like independent learning, group work and peer assessment are now more than just phrases. They have a legitimate place in a formative learning environment.'
The study also highlighted the continuing challenge of increasing the quality of teachers' responses to the evidence which comes from these formative assessment practices. In particular they drew attention to the need for teachers to include explicitly stated goals for improvement in their feedback and to improve the quality of their questions in the light of their students' responses.
