By Michael Watson, Headteacher, Hunter’s Bar Junior School
Back in 2010, I did not have a long-term plan for embedding formative assessment in our school; the plan was simply to complete the two-year Embedding Formative Assessment (EFA) programme from SSAT. So, why after fifteen years, are we still continuing to embed formative assessment and what impact has it had in school; beyond its prime directive of improving the quality of teaching and learning?
I want to talk about three main benefits: clear and meaningful alignment between key aspects of school, going deeper, and creating culture.
A school is a complex, ever-changing organism. Having one key element clearly nailed down and understood by all has allowed us to approach other areas of school development with confidence and clarity. A bit like having all the corners and sides of a jigsaw already assembled before you start, we have always found the underlying principles of formative assessment prevalent in other areas of school development and have been able to join these pieces neatly together.
Take behaviour for instance. When considering how we needed to change our approach as we were coming out of the pandemic, I looked for things that would connect with the culture that the EFA programme had created. Upon discovering ‘positive regard’, I could see how it would sit neatly alongside the way classrooms felt and how staff operated and related to children. A core concept of unconditional positive regard, the approach developed by the psychologist Carl Rogers, is dealing with people without judgement. In classrooms with embedded formative assessment, teachers were acting as scientists, collecting evidence of understanding, not so they could blame the children for their errors, but so that the teacher could take full responsibility for the situation and do something to make it better. The underlying principle of no blame had already been established and the section of the behaviour jigsaw could fit neatly in place.
Having a clear, definable approach to pedagogy also made it easier for us when we redesigned the curriculum. We already had a good understanding of how it would be implemented and the impact of high-quality teaching for the learner. This left us free to focus on what we intended to teach. We aligned our curriculum with our pedagogical approach by working with the end in mind.
There are other pieces of the jigsaw that may seem less connected to teaching and learning but none-the-less, have been easier to manage because formative assessment was embedded; recruitment being one. I imagine, like many, we recruit not for experience and skills but for the right person and the attributes they bring. Defining that personality can be hard and I’m not really sure many do it with enough thought. We know exactly what sort of person we want because we know the sort of person that makes a successful formative assessment teacher.
Jigsaw analogies aside, another benefit we have found from embedding formative assessment for a long time, is having the opportunity to go deeper. Rather than focusing on one element for a year or two before switching to something else, teachers have had the time, knowledge and permission to delve into areas of their teaching that they have deemed worthy. As a result, staff have taken ownership of their own learning.
An example of this came from looking more closely at how we organised paired talk.
On the face of it, things looked positive, all children observed were engaged and talking about the learning. However, by going deeper we discovered that sometimes a more confident partner with a misconception would convince a less confident partner of their view. Our response was to refine the process with an additional checking mechanism to ensure we were not allowing misconceptions to spread.
Management guru Peter Drucker reportedly said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. I think this lies at the heart of what we have gained from making the EFA programme front and centre in school development for such a sustained period. As we have embedded formative assessment across the school, we have found that the entire community has become aligned in a shared mission.
This has come about because the core principles underpinning the implementation of the EFA programme: small steps, flexibility, choice, challenge and support, have gone beyond the programme. They have permeated every other aspect of school life and how we approach school development.
For example, working in small steps from one Teacher Learning Community (the vehicle that drives the embedding of formative assessment) to the next, led us to recognise the power of habits, not only the EFA programme but in other aspects of school. As a result, we have become more process-led than goal-focused in our strategic outlook, which has impacted everything from staff appraisal to how we implement anything new.
In addition, by focusing on small, incremental steps and providing regular feedback, we have fostered an environment where mistakes are seen as part of the learning process, creating a culture where growth is celebrated and both pupils and staff are not afraid to take risks.
In an ever-changing educational landscape, the Embedding Formative Assessment programme has proven to be an immensely powerful tool, not just for improving individual learning outcomes, but for fostering a positive, forward-thinking school culture. With a long-term plan in place, teachers and pupils alike have benefitted from a clear vision of growth, progress, and achievement.
Embedding Formative Assessment in Primary Schools
Building on over 20 years of research by Dylan Wiliam and Siobhan Leahy, this programme has shown to make a positive impact on learner engagement and achievement.
