Ongoing review and formative assessment

Adult Literacy and Numeracy (ALN) Curriculum Framework for Scotlandpart2

Part Two: Practice

3.5 Ongoing review and formative assessment

At an appropriate point in the learning programme, learner and tutor will need to set aside time to discuss how the learning is going. They will want to look over the work they have done, discuss what progress has been made towards the initial goal and what still needs to be done. Perhaps they will set a new goal but certainly they will want to discuss what has worked and what has not worked for the learner and what has been enjoyable and useful. Thus, in a relaxed way they will follow the experiential learning circle by reflecting on their experience and planning new goals and activities in the light of their conclusions.

Each learner (in an inclusive group) is invited to assess his or her own progress towards the goals which were identified and noted over the first few weeks of work. Tutors believe that often at the beginning learners "don’t know what they don’t know" and covertly observe others to see what is available for learning. After a few weeks they become more able to articulate what they want to learn. Individual termly reviews are held and new goals set in discussion. Progress towards, or achievement of, SQA units is particularly valued but so too is one learner’s comment, "I look at the cost of the Cokes now and I said to the wife, "Don’t buy that one. It’s not worth it!"

 

A couple for whom English is an additional language had as their immediate goal, to understand instructions on medicine labels. One session was spent working on the words "before", "after" and "with" in relation to mealtimes, and when medicine should be taken. These learners assessed their own progress outside the learning programme - when they could do something that they couldn’t do before, they moved on to another short-term goal. Before working on instructions on medicine bottles, the husband had worked on making appointments at the surgery by telephone, which he could now do without difficulty. The tutor working with these learners recognises the importance of tackling immediate urgent needs, but is also working with them on language acquisition in broader areas.

When reviewing, tutor and learner may look over learner’s ILP to:

  • remind themselves of the learner’s contexts and motivations which have driven the work
  • look  again at the goals the learner set
  • discuss the work done towards these goals.

They can reflect on the learning that has gone on by asking the learner:

  • what was the biggest bit of learning for him/her
  • how  he/she learned it and what worked best for him/her
  • what he/she enjoyed
  • what had been most useful
  • what had been difficult.

Together they may assess progress by:

  • asking whether the goal, or part of the goal has been reached and  how the learner knows this
  • looking through recorded work which evidences this and/or
  • asking  the learner to demonstrate  a skill on which he/she has been working, eg reading and carrying out instructions
  • asking what difference the learning has made in the learner's private life (including education and training), family life, community life and working life
  • discussing what is left to be done to achieve the goal.

Then they will plan the next steps by discussing:

  • what the learner wants to do or learn next
  • how the learner wants to learn it
  • who can help with it
  • where learner and tutor can get the information.
 
A group of learners in a sheltered workshop in Glasgow had completed an accredited literacies course and were conducting their review. They had been granted further training time by their employers and were keen to continue working on their literacies at the same time as developing their use of a variety of enabling technologies.
 
Together with the tutor, they decided to write a newsletter for and about their workshop. Roles and tasks were apportioned according to their various interests, abilities and disabilities. After this first publication they joined an initiative run by the National Library of Scotland and a national newspaper to learn more sophisticated design and editing skills. For this they had to travel through to attend workshops in Edinburgh.

The whole process can be a mix of group discussions, paired work and individual writing.  Flipcharts or laptops with data projectors can be used to record group discussions, while individuals' comments might be noted on their ILPs, checklists, worksheets or post-its on wall-posters.

Case study
One tutor divides an A4 sheet into four. In a circle in the centre she writes the learner’s goals. Each quarter is headed with one of the domains: private, community, work or family life. All the work done, all the differences noted and all the plans made are noted down under one of the domains. This keeps the work focused on the learner’s goals and contexts. 
 

It is never too early to talk about long-term goals, note down what the learner might want to do next and where appropriate opportunities can be found.  Experience suggests that adults may leave literacy provision before exit guidance can be arranged thus losing the opportunities to explore, with support, the next steps open to them.
 
Many ILPs have space for recording ongoing reviews but other providers suggest a sheet with headings like  "Work done!",  "Changes in using literacies" and "What next?". These can be used, dated and stapled onto the ILP.
 
In one rural area assessment is focused strongly on learners’ self reporting on the difference literacy learning is making in their lives outside the learning programme. Tests are not used at present, but certification opportunities may be developed for young learners. One-to-one learners meet with a co-ordinator every three or four months to review progress both in and out of class. Using theIndividual Learning Plans structure, learners discuss whether their stated goals are still relevant and whether barriers or support needs have changed. Potential solutions and new aims are explored. Then the learner is asked what differences the learning is making both in tutorial and in life outside. This is all then typed up and added to the ILP.
 
Group learners discuss their individual progress with the tutor but then review as a group the subject matter they have tackled and lead into an evaluation of the group’s work.

Where a learner is aiming for certification, the formative assessment process should be similar to the summative assessment process so that the learner becomes comfortable with the assessment process. Indeed, frequently - for example, where summative assessment is based on a portfolio of evidence created by the learner - the same tasks may be used for both formative and summative purposes, ie to assist the learning process and to recognise the attainment of learning goals. However, in a learning programme leading to certification, the tutor would need to ensure that the work was the result of the learner’s own unaided efforts.

How often such reviews take place may be decided when the ILP is being negotiated, but they may be about every two to three months or once a term in more formal programmes of learning. At the same time tutor and learner may decide on the way in which progress will be assessed. This may be by consideration of a portfolio of the learner’s work over the previous few weeks or the learner may want to carry out a specific task for the review (eg a formal letter to a council or newspaper, or explaining what changes a chart on unemployment rates shows). Whatever form of assessment is agreed, assessment should always take place in a context familiar to the learner and be relevant to his/her needs and experience. Since the review will cover progress not only in the acquisition of new skills but also in how well s/he is able to apply them in real life outside the "safe" context of the teaching setting, self-assessment will always be a part of the review.

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