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Embedding Formative Assessment

Pedagogy Teachers are currently working on - Summer 2, 2026

This half term, teachers are focusing on activating students as owners of their own learning. This means helping students to take a more active role in understanding what they are learning, how well they are doing, and what they need to do next to improve.

In classrooms, this could include:

  • Encouraging students to reflect regularly on their learning, for example by identifying what is going well and what they still need to improve
  • Supporting students to assess their own work using checklists, success criteria, or simple “traffic light” systems
  • Creating opportunities for students to explain their thinking, summarise learning, and ask their own questions
  • Sharing examples of strong work so students can clearly see what success looks like and apply this to their own work
  • Giving students time to identify “one small change” that would improve their work, helping them take responsibility for next steps

This approach helps students to become more aware of their learning and to play an active role in improving it, rather than relying only on teacher feedback.

Why this is helpful for students 

Activating students as owners of their own learning has several important benefits.

It helps students understand what success looks like. By looking at examples, using success criteria, and evaluating work, students develop a clearer understanding of what high‑quality work involves and how to achieve it.

It supports honest reflection. Students are encouraged to think about what they know, what they are unsure about, and what they need help with. This helps them become more accurate and confident learners over time.

It builds independence and resilience. When students take responsibility for identifying their next steps — such as choosing one small improvement or recognising gaps in understanding — they become less dependent on teachers and more confident in tackling challenges.

It encourages active engagement in lessons. Opportunities to summarise learning, ask questions, and contribute ideas help students stay focused and feel that their voice matters in the classroom.

Overall, this approach improves understanding, confidence, and long‑term learning by helping students take greater ownership of their progress.

How parents can support at home

Parents and carers play an important role in supporting students to become more independent learners. You do not need to teach the content, but you can help your child reflect on their learning.

You can support by:

  • Encouraging your child to talk about their learning, for example: “What went well today?” or “What would you improve if you did it again?”
  • Asking about challenges as well as successes, helping them see that learning involves difficulty and effort
  • Supporting them to think about next steps, such as identifying one small change or area to practise
  • Reassuring them that it is normal not to understand everything straight away, and that asking questions is a positive part of learning

If your child is completing homework or revision, encourage them to:

  • Check their work against success criteria or examples
  • Explain their thinking out loud to strengthen understanding
  • Use simple self‑assessment strategies such as “secure / unsure / need help”

This support can help your child to:

  • Develop independence and confidence in their learning
  • Recognise what they know and what they need to work on
  • Feel more comfortable asking questions and taking responsibility for improvement

Most importantly, focus on effort, reflection, and progress. This reinforces the message students receive in school: learning is something they actively shape, not something that just happens to them.

What Pedagogy teachers have been working on

Making formative use of summative assessments

  • Using end of unit assessments or tests or practise exam answers to help identify learning and to provide feedback to move students forward

This might have included strategies such as using ‘find it and fix it’, students using RED, AMBER, GREEN dots at the top of each page to identify levels of understanding, zero-stakes testing or students revising together assisting one another with individual areas of need.

Activating students as instructional resources for one another

  • Giving students more responsibility

This might have included strategies such as Ladder of feedback, Best composite answer, Traffic lighting peers’ work, student lesson review and homework help board.

Learning intentions and Success Criteria

  • Setting clear expectations (e.g., subtracting three-digit numbers with regrouping).
  • Applying learning in different contexts to make it useful beyond the activity.
  • Describing quality work, for example through rubrics (marking or success guides).
  • Providing step-by-step scaffolding, then gradually removing it so students become independent.

Providing feedback that moves learners forward

  • Make less marking, while giving students more responsibility
  • Keep records of students’ progress that help teaching and learning

This might have included strategies such as margin marking, traffic light feedback, mastery marking, asking students three key questions, and giving time to find and fix their own mistakes.”

Eliciting evidence of learning: Finding out what students are thinking

  • improve classroom questioning and discussion
  • involve all students in lessons

This might have included strategies such as, whole class vote, No hands up – except to ask a question, mini whiteboards, finger voting, exit tickets, opening up closed questions, post it notes on a continuum, waiting 3 seconds.

To see what Pedagogy teachers have been working on in past terms, click one of the links below: