No doubt, it is our responsibility as teachers to ensure continuity and progression in pupils" education. One of the ways in which this can be achieved is by effective assessment.
Assessment.
Assessment should take place regularly to inform the teachers as well as the pupils what they know, understand and can do. It is ineffectual merely recording what they have been taught (DfES 0321, 2002).
According to the Ofsted evaluation of the ICT strand of the strategy (2003) assessment in secondary schools remains a common weakness which the Strategy, despite efforts, has not done much to remedy.
Many of the development parts and plenaries I have observed at my placement school have been conducted very poorly. Whilst the pupils were 'on tasks', teacher-pupil interaction was at its minimal. Following the development part, many teachers reserved ten minutes towards the end of the lesson to either allow pupils to insert their work in their folders and/or even use this time to give and explain homework. This duration could be used more effectively by using various forms of formative assessment to allow the teacher to assimilate whether or not his/her students have achieved the learning objectives set out at the beginning. .
DfES 0321, 2002 suggests three types of assessments: short, medium and long-term assessments. Short-term assessments are focused on short learning objectives and are an informal part of every lesson. This type of assessment helps the teacher to judge whether or not their teaching objectives have been met. I have had the opportunity to jointly assess pupils" strengths and difficulties in their learning along with what they have learned, what they need to aim for next and how to take the next steps in order to progress and further their abilities. This was done in the form of informal observations, oral questioning, and individual monitoring during every lesson, at intervals, marking of pupils' classwork and homework and informal discussions with teachers of other subjects.
