What is Assessment is for Learning?

Assessment is for Learning provides a coherent framework for assessment, in which evidence of learning can be gathered and interpreted to best meet the needs of learners, their parents and teachers, as well as school managers and others with responsibility for ensuring that education in Scotland is as good as it can be.

In distinguishing three different uses of assessment (assessment for, as and of learning), AifL seeks to ensure that evidence of learning is gathered and used in appropriate ways, and that meaningful connections can be made between the curriculum and the learning and teaching required for its effective delivery.

Assessment for learning

Using assessment to support classroom learning and teaching

Assessment for Learning is about ensuring that assessment is an integral part of day-to-day learning and teaching. Research has shown that learners learn best when ...

they understand clearly what they are trying to learn, and what is expected of them
they are given feedback about the quality of their work and what they can do to make it better
they are given advice about how to go about making improvements
they are fully involved in deciding what needs to be done next, and who can give them help if they need it.

When teaching is designed to allow learners to focus on these ‘big ideas’ about assessment, they can begin to develop a capacity for autonomous learning.

Assessment as learning

Using assessment to promote autonomy in learning

Assessment as Learning is about learning how to learn. Learners who have been involved in assessing themselves and others are more likely to develop the attributes and the skills they need to become resilient, self-motivating learners, able to keep on learning as they mature and as the challenges they face in their learning become more demanding.

Assessment of learning

Using assessment to make sound judgements about learning and school effectiveness

Through Assessment of Learning, sound judgements about learners’ achievements can be made. Assessment of Learning also supports assessment for and as learning by ensuring that standards are understood and shared by teachers, the learners themselves, their parents and other adults who are either directly engaged in or supporting the learning process.

Assessment of learning is also used in evaluating the effectiveness of schools and other establishments (How Good is our School 3, The Journey to Excellence, The Child at the Centre, etc) and the results of national surveys (Scottish Survey of Achievement) and international surveys (PISA, PIRLS etc) inform improvement by providing evidence of relative performance across different education authorities and countries.