About the Assessment is for Learning Programme
AifL - Assessment is for Learning - is a Scottish government-funded assessment development programme, which was launched in 2002 following an extensive public consultation on assessment practice in pre-school and 5-14 education.
AifL aims to actively involve the people who use assessment evidence to inform improvement for learners themselves and for the classrooms in which they learn, for their school, and for the wider education system.
The three strands
AifL explores three main uses of assessment:
- Assessment FOR Learning
- using assessment to support classroom learning and teaching - Assessment AS Learning
- using assessment to promote autonomy in learning - Assessment OF Learning
- using assessment evidence to make sound judgements about learning and school effectiveness.
Who is involved?
AifL is managed by Learning and Teaching Scotland. It involves pupils, parents, teachers, school managers, local authorities, researchers, inspectors (HMIE) and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), and provides a wide variety of activities which are designed to help participants use assessment information to support learning and to measure achievement in an appropriate and coherent way.
What resources are there?
The AifL website has been developed to support the AifL Programme. It is primarily for Scottish classroom teachers and school managers, but will also be of interest to local authorities, researchers, trainee teachers, parents and pupils.
Key assessment features are exemplified in depth, with extracts from case studies and related CPD activities. There is also an extensive glossary of terms and background information about the programme.
A research area contains summaries and information on relevant reading material. Self-assessment toolkits for schools and early years establishments have been designed to help schools and stage groups, subject departments, faculty groups and individual members of staff to determine how far they have incorporated the principles of AifL into practice.
Sign up for the email update
This website continues to evolve and develop along with AifL practice around the country, and with Curriculum for Excellence. New case studies and resources are being added to the site on a regular basis. If you would like to receive updates informing you of these, you can subscribe to our email update.