Assessment in English (Part 1: An Introduction)

After looking at assessment in my own practice and across the English curriculum as a trust English lead, I’ve decided to sum up some ideas and approaches in a series of blogs to kick-start 2022.  For part 2 in the series, please click here.

Assessment can be particularly problematic for English teachers, due to the subjective nature of most of what we teach- something that often leads to a sea of remark requests when exam results are issued.  Though I’d be wary of any argument that assessing English is ‘harder’ than other subjects (such comparisons are rarely useful and often only serve to divide teachers), we cannot ignore the fact that many of the processes we look to assess are inherently complex.

For experienced practitioners, who have had repeated exposure to what good does (and doesn’t) look like, it’s possible to trust initial impressions to make inferences of students’ knowledge, based on what they produce.  However, criteria such as GCSE mark schemes can be an unhelpful support, leading many of us to question what makes an explanation ‘clear’ or how you decide that a student’s work is ‘perceptive’ rather than ‘thoughtful’.

The definitions of some key terms in assessment can also be confusing.  As a trainee and NQT, I remember getting muddled about what constituted formative and summative assessments, as well as how to make them effective.  Luckily, with the growth of edutwitter and the range of books and blogs on the subject, there is more on offer to demystify assessment and its role in teaching.  I’m hoping that these blogs will serve as a welcome support for English teachers - from trainees to those with decades of experience in the classroom- who are looking for clear views of assessment in English, an understanding of where the challenges lie and advice on how to overcome these.

I’ll be taking a tour of the different elements of assessment in English, firstly clarifying some key definitions of terms linked to assessment in the classroom before then taking a detailed look at different approaches to formative assessment and the tools that we will need for our day-to-day practice.  Later, I’ll move on to address the questions surrounding summative assessment, considering the systems we cannot control (such as GCSE and A level exams) and also evaluating different approaches to assessment that have arisen since the removal of levels from the English National Curriculum.