Peer and self assessment
What Black and Wiliam say
Black and Wiliam argue that peer and self assessment is crucial to developing formative assessment, and argue that such assessment need not be less reliable than treacher assessment. However, pupils can only take an active role in assessment when they have 'a sufficiently clear picture of the targets that their learning is meant to attain'. (Black and Wiliam, 1998)
Many learners do not have the clear picture needed to enable them to take greater responsibility, and see classroom teaching as little more than a series of unconnected exercises. 'Passive reception' can only be overcome if teachers engage in 'hard and sustained' work, sharing this overview with their pupils and providing opportunities for discussion and reflection. (Black and Wiliam, 1998) This message is entirely consistent with findings from research studies on how people learn.
Peer assessment
This is the means by which pupils learn to understand 'quality'. When they start assessing other pupils' work it helps them reflect on their own work too. Peer assessment gets pupils thinking and talking about learning processes.
It is valuable because the interchange between pupils is in a language that pupils use. However, it is more effective when pupils are aware of the learning intentions and have watched the teacher 'modelling' the process in previous lessons. Pupils are often more critical of each other's work than teachers would dare to be!
Self-assessment
Self-assessment is not a luxury. Reflection is essential to good learning.
Sharing criteria with pupils does not necessarily mean pupils will be able to engage in self-assessment. They need to be taught the skills required.
'For formative assessment to be productive, pupils should be trained in self-assessment so that they can understand the main purposes of their learning and thereby grasp what they need to do to achieve.' (Black and Wiliam, 1998)
Training pupils in self-assessment
The ability of pupils to direct their own learning is very important. It is difficult for pupils to move from teacher-directed assessment to self-assessment, and so pupils need to be trained in self-assessment so that they can understand the main purposes of their learning and understand what they need to do to achieve their goals.
They need:
- information about what they need to learn and how they will know they have been successful
- a greater understanding of what constitutes good-quality work
- the skills and techniques to assess what they have achieved
Self-assessment helps learning. Its greatest impact is on raising pupils' confidence in their own learning. They are able to say when/where they need help without a sense of failure. They work towards being in control of their own learning and begin to set their own learning goals.
Contributions from Gillian Tinning, Belmont Academy; Liz Scott, Scottish CILT; Myra Young, SEED