Social Justice in a Pluralist World

AKC 2Theology – Spring Term 2011 – Social Justice in a Pluralist World27/01/11

AKC 2 – 27 January 2011

Social Justice in a Pluralist World

Lecture 2: School learning - the value of formative assessment

Prof Paul Black, Emeritus Professor of Science Education, Department of Education & Professional Studies, KCL

Introduction

The work described is based on research and development designed to improve teaching and learning. For research, the aim has been to identify those studies which produce evidence of innovations which improve the learning achievements of pupils. The work of development flows from this its aim being to encourage and support teachers as they try to select ideas from the research and transform them into practices which enrich the ways in which they develop the learning of their classes. The core concept is that teachers should elicit and then respond to feedback from their pupils to identify their learning needs, to adapt their teaching to help meet those needs, and to help the pupils to take an active and responsible part in these interactions. The main findings are summarised in the following four sections.

1Interactive oral dialogue. One main principle here emerges from learning research:

“Children, we now know, need to talk, and to experience a rich diet of spoken language, in order to think and to learn. Reading, writing and number may be acknowledged curriculum ‘basics’, but talk is arguably the true foundation of learning”.

Alexander, R. (2006) Towards dialogic thinking: rethinking classroom talk. York : Dialogos, (p.9)

This argument indicates that the teacher’s task is to engineer classroom discussions in which pupils can become engaged in talking about the learning work. This calls for the design of questions and other tasks which will help pupils to become involved, by volunteering their own initial thoughts and ideas, and then to build on these by summarising and challenging what emerges in order to steer the discussion towards achieving the learning goals. Teachers find this hard to achieve. Many will involve pupils, but only in closed questions, for which there is only one right answer: any one answer is judged right, or is corrected if wrong, and the teacher then moves on to the next question. With questions which are open-ended to provoke discussion, some responses will be unpredictable – facing the teacher with having to work out, on the spot, a response which will respect and so make use of that pupil’s contribution and use it to help the class discussion build towards the learning aim.

2Dialogue with written work This same principle of interactive dialogue can be applied also to other forms of dialogue involved in teaching programmes. All forms of written work, in which the learner produces a response to a task, and the teacher then evaluates that response, are occasions for formative interaction. Then there is a choice, between giving the work a mark, i.e. a judgment on the value of the work, or responding by way of comments which are designed to guide the learner to improve aspects of the work that need attention With written homework, compromise, by giving both marks and comments, does not work, for research has shown that pupils will then look only at the mark and ignore the comments. So schools have been challenged to implement ‘comment-only marking’ ; the reason for the absence of marks on their work has to be explained to both pupils and their parents. Teachers have found that the task of formulating effective comments is a demanding one, although the teacher has more time to do this than in the parallel case of oral dialogue.

However, the comments can only be of value if pupils then have to do further work to deal with the comments - so using their original investment of time to improve the learning.

3Reviewing learning It is also possible to treat any end-of-topic test in a similar way - as an occasion for a review of the learning. Thus, insofar as any gaps or errors are revealed, it would be important to deal with them before the teaching moves on. Thus a test can be seen as a step on the learning road, not as a terminal judgment, and pupils can see that its outcome is helpful for them. Of course, this can only happen if time is allowed after the test before the teaching moves on: the principle is that “A test at the end is too late”.

4Peer-assessment and self-assessment The active participation which should be encouraged in classroom dialogue can b taken further. Pupils are frequently asked to work in small groups for part of a lesson, the aim being that all can be involved in dialogue around a specific component of the lesson plan. In such discussion, they can learn from one another and some will participate more readily than they would in the whole class. Such group work can also be used to involve pupils in marking one another’s written work, or in marking one another’s examination answers. The key part of such procedures is to avoid the mere application of a prescribed marking scheme. Each group may, for example, be asked to share their responses to a question, then to put them into rank order, and then to exchange in discussion their reasons for valuing any one response more or less than another, perhaps ending up by proposing a mark scheme. A first value of this is that it requires learners to develop understanding of ‘what counts as a good answer’, i.e. of the criteria of quality. Without such understanding, pupils cannot do themselves justice in responding to any task. A second value is that in the mutual inter-change, pupils can see their own efforts in the light of the judgment of their peers, which will help all to become more objectively critical about their own efforts. The aim here is to help pupils develop self-assessment, or what is called, in works on learning psychology, ‘self-regulated learning’.

PrinciplesThe four developments outlined above work well because they are grounded in established principles of learning. These advise to:

(a) start from the learner’s existing understanding,

(b) involve the learner actively in the learning process

(c) develop dialogue, i.e. social learning in which all are resources for one another and

(d) develop self-assessment

Other research studies of confidence and self-esteem show that feedback by marks damages by encouraging competitive and ego-oriented attitudes, whereas feedback which shows each how to improve has positive effects.

However, there are deeper issues. Respect for the dignity and unique value of each person demands that schools help each pupil become an independent learner, able to assume the responsibility for his or her own education. Writing about education as a pastoral theologian, Groome (Educating for Life: a spiritual vision for every teacher and parent.New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1998)discusses the core values that should guide a humanizing, spiritually inspired education. Two quotations serve illustrate relevant links, of the work described here, with such an education:

It demands a pedagogy that engages people as active participants in the teaching/learning dynamic that prompts and empowers them to become agents of their own learning rather than treating them as dependents and telling them what to know. (p.103)

By way of overall ethos, a humanizing approach to teaching suggests a community of co-learners in conversation. Stylistically, this means encouraging everyone present to actively participate, creating conversation and fostering participation, simulating and welcoming the contributions of all.(p.429-30)

Further reading An article about the formative assessment work can be freely down-loaded from the King’s web-site ( and scroll down to the end.

• The AKC Examinationwill take place on Friday, 1st April between 14.30 and 16.30
• AKC Exam Registrationdeadline: 28th January 2011. To register:mykcl.kcl.ac.uk .
• Full details about the AKC course, including the handouts:
• Please note the new AKC email address or call internal ext 2333