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Assessment guidance for Cambridge Primary Art &

Design

Purposes for assessment

Whenever we decide to assess learners, we need to be clear about why we are doing so. Why we assess
learners (our selected purposes) will influence how and when we choose to do this. Here are two purposes for
assessing Primary learners.

1. Assessment to give information about current learning and to inform next steps
This type of assessment should happen every day during classroom activities. Whenever learners
demonstrate their current learning you can use this information to give them feedback and to inform your
next steps for them and the class.

The aim of this type of assessment is to uncover what a learner, or group of learners, currently knows,
understands, or can or cannot do. This allows you, as the teacher, to give timely and specific feedback to
help them improve. It will also inform next steps (for example, it will help you to decide whether to spend
more time on a learning objective, to go back to prior learning or to move on).

When this is the main purpose of an assessment, it is important to retain details rather than summarise
information as a single grade. For example, if a learner is to improve, it is much more useful to say ‘if you
hold your pencil three to five centimetres from the tip you will have more control when drawing a shape
accurately' than to say ‘you are not drawing shapes accurately’ or ‘you did that at a Grade B level’.

These informal, regular assessments are very important because you can make ongoing changes to
maximise progress during the learning process, rather than waiting until the end of a period of study.
Using assessments in this way can be called Assessment for Learning (AfL), formative assessment or
using assessment formatively. You can find information and advice on this process in Section 5 of the
Cambridge Primary Art & Design Teacher Guide.

2. Assessment to summarise achievement over a period of learning to give a grade

This type of assessment happens towards the end of a period of study (for example, a unit of work, term,
semester or stage). It aims to provide a summary that describes how well a learner has mastered the
knowledge, concepts and skills described in the learning objectives they have been learning over that
period.

The summary is often a grade which describes a level of performance. Common examples of grades
include bronze / silver / gold; working towards expected standard / at expected standard / above expected
standard; and letters or numbers.

The grade given can be used to compare a learner’s overall performance in different subjects or to
compare the performance of learners in different classes, stages or schools. For example, Cambridge
Primary Checkpoint for English, English as a Second Language, Mathematics, Science and Global
Perspectives all provide a grade or standardised score. Assessments used in this way can be called
summative assessments.

Although many Cambridge Primary subjects have a Cambridge Primary Checkpoint, there is no Cambridge
Primary Checkpoint for Art & Design. This document provides guidance on other ways to assess Cambridge
Primary Art & Design.

Assessment guidance for Cambridge Primary Physical Education 1

 Activities that can be used for assessing Art & Design
It is a common misconception that different activities are used for different types of assessment. Often the
same activities can provide information which you can use for your intended assessment purpose (i.e. to give
information on current learning and to inform next steps, or to summarise achievement over a period of
learning).

When deciding what activities and tasks to use to assess your learners in Cambridge Primary Art & Design,
you may wish to note the following points:

 Your learners will show what they know, understand and can do in different ways. Some assessments
can be based on what learners write or say in response to questions (for example, in group discussions).
But in Primary Art & Design some of the most relevant evidence will be what learners demonstrate in their
output, including their preparatory work and their final pieces.
 Give your learners the opportunity to perform tasks that reflect their age and attainment. The suggested
activities in the schemes of work give suggestions of age-appropriate activities, although you can
substitute these for other activities. Opportunities for assessing Primary Art & Design include:
o during discussions on the work of other artists and designers
o when learners are practising new skills and equipment
o when learners are experimenting with different art media
o when learners generate their own ideas to make individual designs or artwork
o when learners contribute to team projects
o learners’ final output for a given task.
 Learners should have experience of several types of art and design activity using different media,
materials and processes. You can choose how many of these you wish to assess.
 A single piece of work or activity is unlikely to cover all of the learning objectives although it may cover
learning from more than one. Aim to build a more comprehensive representation of learners’ knowledge
by looking at learners’ work in a range of contexts and through a range of activities.
 Seek to identify whether a learner can demonstrate progress within a learning objective over a period of
time rather than focussing on a single piece of work.
 It can be very powerful to involve learners in identifying their progress and next steps. In Primary Art &
Design you can use visual journals to record the process a learner used to improve their knowledge or
skills as well as to identify how their knowledge and skills came together in their final outcome.

Assessment guidance for Cambridge Primary Physical Education 2

 Recording achievement
We strongly recommend that you agree an approach within your school which means that records are simple,
quick and easy to keep and maintain. Extensive, frequent record keeping can easily distract you from more
important classroom activities.

The learning objectives in the curriculum framework provide a structure against which learners’ knowledge,
understanding and skills can be developed. The focus of assessment should be on individual skills, processes
or techniques as suggested in the strands rather than exclusively on the final outcome. Progression in Art &
Design is an iterative rather than a linear process. Each strand and its learning objectives are equally
important and will be revisited in each stage. One possible approach for checking progress against these
learning objectives is to consider how your learners are responding to the requirements of each learning
objective against the expectations of their learning stage (see Section 4 of the Curriculum Framework).

Working towards the At the expected standard of the Above the expected standard of
expectations of the learning learning objective for the stage the learning objective for the
objective for the stage stage

Learners can apply some, but
not all, of the knowledge,
understanding and/or skills
described in the learning
objective in limited contexts
only.
Learners can apply the
knowledge, understanding
and/or skills described in the
learning objective in some
contexts, especially familiar
and simple contexts.
Learners can apply the
knowledge, understanding and
skills described in the learning
objective in a wide range of
contexts, including unfamiliar
and complex contexts.

Learners may demonstrate Learners may start to

some of the knowledge, demonstrate some of the
understanding and/or skills knowledge, understanding
described in the learning and/or skills described in the
objective, but for the expectations of the learning
expectations of a lower stage. objective for a higher stage.

A possible method for recording progress based on this approach is described below.

Have a look at this description of a Stage 4 learner.

Lloyd makes perceptive comments in discussions about the work of a range of contemporary artists. He
experiments independently and effectively, particularly with digital photography, water colours and acrylics to
create imaginative and individual still life artwork, portraits and landscapes. He shows excellent understanding
of how to create perspective and use colour. Lloyd enjoys looking at the work of famous artists and designers
but needs to use his visual journal to record his observations in order to inspire future work. He might prefer to
use his impressive skills with a camera rather than sketching to do this.

Here is an example with learning objectives from the Experiencing strand. It records whether this learner is
working towards, at, or above the standard of each learning objective.

Assessment guidance for Cambridge Primary Physical Education 3

 Experiencing Working towards /
At / Above

E.01 Encounter, sense, experiment with and respond to a wide range of sources, At expected standard
including a range of art from different times and cultures.

E.02 Explore media, materials, tools, technologies and processes. Above expected
standard

E.03 Gather and record experiences and visual information. Working towards
expected standard

Giving feedback to learners

Your records can be used to give feedback to learners. For example, you can discuss with a learner their
progress towards particular learning objectives and what they need to do to improve further. This is particularly
important if your purpose for assessment is to give information about current learning and next steps.

You can find more information on giving feedback in Section 5.5 of the Cambridge Primary Art & Design
Teacher Guide.

Assessment guidance for Cambridge Primary Physical Education 4

 Reporting results
This section applies to anyone who is responsible for deciding the reporting strategy for their school or subject.

Consider these different styles of reports and their accompanying strengths and weaknesses.

Report 1: a summary statement for the subject

Art & Design At expected standard.

Report 1 is simple to understand and makes it easy to compare a learner’s attainment between subjects. It is
likely that this style of report will require limited record keeping by teachers. However, there is not enough
information to indicate how an individual learner might make progress.

Report 2: a summary statement for the subject and a comment

Art & Design At expected standard. Understands the key elements of art
and design and the creative
process. Should aim to experiment
and review work in greater depth
and record processes in their visual
journal.

Report 2 is similar to Report 1 but the additional comment lets teachers give some feedback on how to
progress further.

Report 3: a summary statement for each curriculum strand

Art & Design At expected standard.
Experiencing At expected standard.
Making At expected standard.
Reflecting Working towards expected standard.
Thinking and Working Above expected standard.
Artistically

Report 3 is still simple to understand but might require more time for teachers to complete than Reports 1 or 2.
It allows learners, and their parents, to identify strengths and areas for improvement within a subject as well as
compare between subjects.

Report 4: a summary statement for every learning objective (excerpt)

Art & Design
E.01 Encounter, sense, experiment with and respond At expected standard.
to a wide range of sources, including a range of art
from different times and cultures.
E.02 Explore media, materials, tools, technologies Working towards expected
and processes. standard.
E.03 Gather and record experiences and visual At expected standard.
information.
M.01 Learn to use a range of media, materials, tools, At expected standard.
technologies and processes with increasing skill,
independence and confidence.

Assessment guidance for Cambridge Primary Physical Education 5

 Report 4 is a much more detailed and extensive document as it lists every learning objective. This level of
detail can be confusing for non-specialists to understand (i.e. parents) but can help identify particular areas of
strength and areas for improvement.

You can choose to use different styles of reports at different times of the year. For example, you could use
Report 2 at the end of Terms 1 and 2. Then you could have a fuller report in the style of Report 3 at the end of
the school year.

Whichever type of report you choose to use, it is important that it provides value to learners and parents. It is
also important that it does not take too much time for teachers to produce. Teachers can also get value from
monitoring the progress of a class by identifying areas that their current class needs more time on, and ways
to improve their teaching for future classes.

Copyright © UCLES September 2019 v1

Assessment guidance for Cambridge Primary Physical Education 6