Since 2002 Assessment is for Learning (AifL) has aimed to create a coherent system of assessment. Many teachers in schools across Scotland have enhanced their professional understanding of assessment by participating in assessment development within AifL.
Much of the development work in AifL has concentrated on changes that teachers themselves can make in their classroom practice, their daily work with pupils and their contact with parents. It can therefore be difficult for teachers and others to see how a large national survey like SSA can be part of the same programme.
The AifL quadrant below may help to set SSA in its wider context.
A school view
When teachers think of AifL, many probably think first about the activities shown on the left-hand side of the quadrant - those activities which, by and large, teachers and schools directly control.
Much of the development work in AifL has concentrated on ways in which teachers can improve pupils’ learning. Particular attention has been given to formative assessment, personal learning planning and involving learners and parents and other adults in the learning process.
In the quadrant above these aspects of assessments appear in the top left quadrant – they are activities originating in the school to support pupils' learning. They are therefore internal and formative.
AifL has also focused teachers’ attention on ways in which they can improve their skills for coming to an overall conclusion about their pupils’ levels of attainment – the summative assessment that is used, for example, to report to parents. Within AifL emphasis has been on teachers gathering and interpreting a wide range of evidence about their pupils’ performance. To ensure that there is a shared understanding of standards, teachers have been encouraged to meet and discuss examples of pupils' work in local moderation.
In National Assessments (the online assessment bank), teachers have a professional tool available to them which they can use to confirm the judgements they have made on the basis of the evidence of pupils’ classwork. Although National Assessments are developed externally - ie not by the school - their use is in the control of the school. National Assessments are intended to be used with pupils when the teachers consider their use most appropriate. They provide another source of evidence to supplement other judgements about a pupil’s progress. They are not, therefore, intended as a mandatory end-of-session activity.
In the quadrant above these aspects of assessments appear in the bottom left quadrant - they are initiated by the school to reach an overall conclusion about pupils’ achievement. They are therefore internal and summative.
The overall aims of these changes have been to enhance the teachers’ skills in:
- providing feedback to pupils to help their learning
- reaching overall judgements about pupils’ performance, soundly based on evidence.
A national view
From a wider viewpoint, Ministers in the Scottish Government want to have accurate information about overall levels of attainment so that they can see how effective education policy has been, and what needs to be done to improve standards for all children. Until the introduction of SSA, the Scottish Government gathered information about levels of attainment from local authorities, who in turn gathered it from their schools. This information submitted usually came from the results of national tests.
That use of attainment information was perceived as putting pressure on teachers to concentrate on a narrow range of skills and 'get children through the tests'. That was not good practice. One of the key benefits of SSA, therefore, is that since its introduction it has separated national monitoring from classroom-based assessment.
In SSA the Scottish Government created a robust national monitoring system that provides accurate information about overall standards and trends in achievement, without over-burdening schools or distorting classroom practice.
The SSA is a survey, not a test: a snapshot of learning in a sample of pupils and schools. The findings allow the Scottish Government to report nationally on how well pupils’ learning is being developed, and for noting changes in attainment over time. The survey is not designed to report on individual pupils or schools.
In the quadrant above SSA appears in the bottom right quadrant. Although the survey is administered by schools, it is initiated outwith the school to provide overall conclusions about the performance of cohorts of pupils. It is therefore external and summative.
The findings of surveys can be used to inform future planning. Most obviously this occurs at a national level, but local authorities and schools can look at the results of surveys and reflect on how the peformance of their pupils compares with the performance of pupils across Scotland. See Using the findings for more information.
Find out more about AifL by using the navigation panel on the left of this page and by referring to SEED Circular 02, June 2005.