Deepening teachers’ understanding of assessment a priority for Curriculum for Wales

Schools must make sure that teacher assessment informs teaching and helps pupils to understand and progress their own learning, according to a report published today by Estyn. Many school leaders express some uncertainty about how to approach assessment in the context of the Curriculum for Wales.

Today’s report, The changing approach to assessment, can help schools move towards assessment that supports pupils’ learning. As some schools adopt the Curriculum for Wales and others continue to prepare, the inspectorate recommends that schools should approach assessment in a way that deepens teachers’ understanding of pupils’ learning and how they can progress.

Inspectors visited a sample of schools across Wales previously recognised for having strong practice in teaching.

Owen Evans, Chief Inspector, says,

Getting assessment right is a priority for the Curriculum for Wales. We know that tests are only part of the story when evaluating how well pupils learn. Assessment in the classroom should respond to the needs of individual pupils and be an ongoing and natural part of teaching, not a method of accountability.

Today’s report can help schools to plan how they assess pupils’ work and develop their approaches to reflect the Curriculum for Wales. It identifies good practice from a wide range of primary, secondary, all-age and special schools. 

Case studies in the report highlight how schools have developed effective approaches to assessment. Staff at St Joseph’s RC High School, Newport, ensure that assessment is integral to teaching. In one approach, subject leaders identify key points when teachers must check that pupils have understood before they continue with their learning. The school also regularly reviews the impact of what they are doing and have brought on board parents, pupils and teachers with this system.

Further recommendations in the report include developing teachers’ and leaders’ understanding of this type of assessment and ensuring that teachers use the information they have to adapt their teaching to support and challenge all pupils as appropriate.