Afl: A Classroom-Based Approach To Teaching And Learning

The above classroom-based experience validated the definition provided by Jones (2005). He stated that AfL is a classroom-based approach that integrates into teaching and learning by creating the feedback system for children to reflect and improve. Jones’ (2005) report also highlights that the focus of Afl is when a teacher translates his/her professional judgement, within the classroom, into feedback on children’s work. However, one of the main characteristics of Assessment for learning is the effectiveness of the feedback given by teachers and how the children receive and apply in their future work. The feedback can be subjective depending on the teacher’s approach. As identified by Kang et al.2014 the formative assessment tasks vary in

This suggests that the formative assessment is based on the speculations, as teachers cannot precisely measure children’s cognition(Pellegrino, Chudowsky, and Glaser2001, as cited in Randy Elliot Bennett 2011). Therefore a teacher has to hypothesise based on observations, classroom participation, classwork, homework, test performance and base his/her feedback on reflection (Randy Elliot Bennett 2011).The other aspect I realised during my teaching is that for the positive impact of any feedback not only children need enough time to work on it, but also the culture of growth mindset should be encouraged simultaneously. As rationalised by Clarke.S, 2014 teacher promoting a growth mindset communicates truth to his/her pupils, underachievement is not considered as a shame but something to work. By increasing the level of support within the task itself, the teacher helps the pupils to achieve the success criteria. So we can say that effective feedback as a formative assessment helps to adjust the teaching according to children’s need and promote

It also indicates the children regarding the specific matters in which they need to work very hard, thus acting as a means to help the children become target oriented and life lesson focused learners. The formative assessment or the Afl is carried out during the lesson. Swaffield (2011) suggests that when a child’s learning is assessed within the lesson, it develops his/her conceptual understanding and demonstrates the way to look forward within the process, instead of looking back. So clearly, the assessment for learning approach broadens learning, promote achievement and provide opportunities for developing independent learners. By ongoing formative assessment teacher’s understanding of children’s needs, learning styles and motivation are enhanced which improves the quality of teaching(Dadds(2001) as cited in William et al.2010). However, as per the research of Willam et al.2010, the hurdles are teacher’s reluctance in regards to divergence from pre-planned lesson objectives. The research shows that teachers are reluctant to divert the learning from pre-planned lessons. During my teaching experience, I observed a sequence of maths lesson based on the school’s scheme of work. In the first lesson, children were introduced to the Cuisenaire-rods. The learning objective was to identify the different number