Ian Grayling is the Executive Director of CETTAcademy. Previously he was responsible for the creation and management of the Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training in the East Midlands (emCETT).


“Some governors may assume that new recruits are aware of professional identity, rather than it requiring continued and sustained development. Governors might also form assumptions about college staff from their engagement with staff governors – this will inevitably be a highly variable method for gaining staff awareness.”


Towards a new paradigm for maths and English assessment and tracking


By Ian Grayling


work perspective. Further education had a well-reported phase of managerialism after incorporation in 1993. But hopefully it is long past time to get beyond ‘human resources’ to ‘humans’ and their dignity and respect at work. College governing bodies should be embedding their corporate values of respect, equality, diversity, success and innovation as ‘college-as- workplace’ values too. This may help all professionals working in colleges to become more positive about their experienced work identity. A good place for governors to


start would be in understanding the Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers in Education and Training. As stated by the Education


and Training Foundation on its website, these standards provide a “national reference point that organisations can use to support the development of their staff”. Governors


take heed.


In May 2016, the Education and Training Foundation commissioned CETTAcademy to research, develop and pilot a set of Effective Practice Guidelines for assessment (initial and diagnostic) and tracking in maths and English provision. The Foundation reported growing concerns about the efficacy of initial and diagnostic assessment, as well as the use of individual learning plans (ILPs). Following our research phase, 12 draft guidelines (see diagram below) were critically evaluated by 174 cross-sector organisations, giving them, with some useful amendments, an approval rating of over 70 per cent, with the majority scoring in the top 10th percentile. The guidelines were then piloted to produce a sector-wide sample of case studies and CPD materials. So, are there any surprises here? We believe there may be. For example, the guidelines will require assessment and tracking to become intrinsic aspects of teaching and learning. This is the true meaning of assessment for learning, rather than the frequently


reported retrospective audits (tests) of attainment. For learners, this will mean far greater responsibility for recording ‘what’ and ‘how


well’ their learning is proceeding (or not), together with formative guidance from the subject specialist. This granular level of recording of every learner’s progress, captured in a ‘living’


12 Use Personal Progress Records to review and for MIS


11 Personal Progress Records


are learner-led and a living document


10 Embed/ contextualise assessment in authentic contexts


9 Allocate time in sessions for learners to engage with assessment


8 Safeguard learners’


Download the


Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers via this link goo.gl/sdZj7X


confidence and independence


7 Also assess for self-belief and motivation


ILP, will provide the reliable data to support the new headline accountability measures for maths and English. Further, this uncompromising level of individualised learning will likely challenge overly didactic approaches to classroom-based delivery of maths and English in favour of more learner-led, task-driven and, arguably, collaborative pedagogies. These guidelines may also lead to a reappraisal of the language we currently use. For example: why is diagnostic assessment often linked in the same breath to initial assessment, when diagnostic evaluation is intrinsic to assessment at every learning stage? Is this a new paradigm for assessment and tracking? Only time will tell. For details visit goo.gl/nsutnQ


1 Promote


relevance of maths and English


2 Engage all


relevant professionals in support of assessment


3 Equip learners to monitor and evaluate their own learning


4 Access specialist expertise when


reviewing learners’ strengths and needs


5 Consider all assessment as fundamentally an Afl process


6 Limit


assessment to what is necessary


INTUITION RESEARCH • SPRING 2017 13


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