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Improving Formative Assessment
Emerging findings from current research and development into formative assessment in vocational education and adult literacy and numeracy and ESOL programmes
| Date: | Thursday 15 February 2007 |
| Venue: | National College for School Leadership, Triumph Road, Nottingham, NG8 1DH |
| Ref: | C14-44/02/07 |
| Fee: | £200 (includes lunch, tea/coffee) |
[Background] [Aims] [Audience] [Programme]
Background
Assessment methods designed to motivate students and raise achievement are often mechanistic. In too many cases, they are little more than continuous summative assessment rather than assessment designed to engage learners with learning a subject and to encourage sustainable learning habits. Indeed, many teachers and qualification designers equate formative assessment simply with ongoing monitoring and getting to the targets as easily and quickly as possible. Kathryn Ecclestone, Reflect, October 2006
A research project at the University of Nottingham, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the NRDC (National Research and Development Centre) and the Quality Improvement Agency is showing that teachers are very keen to enhance both their understanding of Assessment for Learning (AfL) and the classroom and assessment practices associated with it. Yet, as the above quote shows, such change does not always lead to learning! Despite uncertainty about what formative assessment is and is not, there is potential for real change. Diagnostic assessment to identify formal learning goals is widely used in the individual learning plan (ILP) but it is also a goal in classroom questioning and feedback, where teachers use learners’ responses to gain insights about problems with understanding and then adjust the teaching or programme accordingly.
Changing the quality and focus of questioning can have a powerful impact on engagement and understanding, while self and peer assessment can enable learners to assess their own current performance against their previous abilities or use the criteria to judge how well they have done. Techniques of oral and written feedback are also important.
Although research can show ways in which teachers can enhance these areas of their practice, we are less certain about why some teachers and learners use the same approaches in the same target-driven systems to generate sophisticated forms of coaching to the criteria and ‘plugging the gaps’ while others develop deeper learning and motivation amongst learners. Understanding how this happens is important if we are to get the right trade-off between instrumental and genuine learning for the very learners who need the best learning that we can offer.
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Aims
The conference will:
 | Draw on themes emerging from research to illuminate different approaches in formative assessment and their effects on learning and motivation; |
| Reflect on why apparently similar approaches can be instrumental or engaging; |
| Highlight specific areas for developing and improving practice; |
| Encourage dialogues between researchers, practitioners and policy makers about the best way to improve practice. |
Delegates will have the opportunity to choose a workshop for two sessions:
What is Formative Assessment?
The morning session of the workshops will provide delegates
with ideas about techniques and approaches in formative
assessment and enable delegates to distinguish between
what constitutes formative assessment and what does not.
Strategies for Assessment
The afternoon session of the workshops will enable
delegates to share and improve strategies for assessment
that encompasses the whole process from initial screening,
formative assessment and monitoring progress. It will help
delegates to take the findings and weave them into practice.
Participants will have the opportunity to share practice,
compare practice with research findings and develop ideas
for enhancing assessment practices in their own context.
All participants will receive a copy of the interim report of the
project, briefing sheets revealing implications for practice, a
copy of the publication Inside the Black Box by Paul Black
and Dylan Wiliam, and papers from the IFA project
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Audience
Who will benefit from attending the conference?
| Teachers and tutors in vocational education and literacy and numeracy programmes in FE colleges, 6th form colleges and adult and community education centres; |
| Qualification designers and staff from awarding bodies, including AQA, City & Guilds, NCFE and EdExcel; |
| Inspectors; |
| Staff in colleges and adult and community education with responsibility for curriculum management and staff development; |
| Learning and Skills Councils. |
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Programme
| 10:00 | Arrival and Registration (Tea/Coffee available) |
| 10:20 | Welcome and Introduction to the Day Chair: Dr. Jan Eldred, Senior Development Officer – Literacy, Language and Numeracy, NIACE |
| 10:30 | First Keynote Address Dr. Kathryn Ecclestone, Associate Professor, Assessment for Lifelong Learning, University of Nottingham |
| 11:10 | Workshops: morning session - Formative Assessment: What is it? There will be a choice of workshops involving researchers and practitioners covering vocational education, adult literacy, numeracy and ESOL and adults with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities |
| 12:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30 | Welcome back: Reflections and Questions Dr. Maggie Greenwood, Head of Research, Learning and Skills Network |
| 13:50 | Second Keynote address Professor Paul Black, King’s College London |
| 14:30 | Workshops: afternoon session - Formative Assessment: How to do it and improve it There will be a choice of workshops involving researchers and practitioners covering vocational education, adult literacy, numeracy and ESOL and adults with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities |
| 15:50 | Close of Conference (Tea/Coffee available) |
This programme is correct at the time of going to press. The organisers reserve the right to make changes to the published programme in the event of one or more of the advertised speakers being unable to attend. Delegates will have no claim against NIACE in respect of such changes.
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