What are broad features of assessment in expressive arts?

Assessment in the expressive arts will focus on children and young people's skills and abilities to express themselves through creating, presenting, evaluating and appreciating. Approaches to assessment will also include a focus on their abilities to recognise, present and discuss their own feelings and emotions and those of others.

Teachers will gather evidence of progress as part of children and young people's day-to-day learning in art and design, dance, drama and music. They will also make use of specific assessment tasks in assessing some aspects of learning. From the early years through to the senior stages, children and young people will demonstrate their progress in developing their skills as they work individually and with others in creative activities including, for example, presentations to others. Discussions with learners and observations of their responses can support teachers and practitioners in the challenge of assessing learners’ creative and aesthetic processes. Evidence of progress will also be demonstrated through learners’ abilities and skills in communicating in different ways and settings, solving problems creatively, and justifying their opinions of their own and others’ work.

Approaches to assessment should identify the extent to which children and young people can apply these skills in their learning and their daily lives and in preparing for the world of work. For example:

• How well do they demonstrate appreciation and understanding of cultural identity?
• Do they show awareness of the role and impact of creative arts on people's lifelong interest and enjoyment of the expressive arts?

Children and young people can demonstrate their progress in skills, knowledge and understanding as they develop their practical skills and express increasingly complex concepts and ideas. For example, they:

• apply their creative skills to produce and perform more complex pieces of work and to recognise creativity and skill in the work of other people
• demonstrate increasing skills and confidence in presentations and performances, and in appreciation of how the expressive arts relate to the wider world and different cultures
• show enjoyment of the expressive arts, for example through evaluating constructively their own work and that of others, and suggesting how it can be improved.

Assessment should also link with other areas of the curriculum within and outside the classroom and, for example, offer children and young people opportunities to become aware of the role of professional arts companies and cultural organisations in society and the economy.