The focus of my assignment:

How assessment is being used within my school/department?

Why is it being used in this way?

Implications for deprived.

The school in question has many different assessment and marking policies, depending on the
subject being taught. I have chosen to evaluate the Mathematics Department policy, as this is the
subject I am training to teach and the department I have been working in since September. The
policy mainly focuses on the different forms of feedback, and how this feedback is given, for
example, the correct use of marking or feedback, be this orally, summative or formative. One of the
most important things that is highlighted within the policy is that teachers should always first take a
positive approach towards any assessment of their students. This, however, could be seen as
sometimes ‘sugar-coating’ the results from assessment, or the assessment itself; students need to
know where they are going wrong in order to see what they need to do to improve and progress.
Constant positive reinforcement can have the opposite effect, if what could be considered as a
student underachieving is greeted with positive feedback (Pekrun, 2006).

As well as this, the policy goes into a lot of detail about the ways in which the school wants teachers
to assess students, covering most eventualities. This includes marking written work in specific ways,
how often work should be marked, the types of homework that should be given and formal
assessment methods used school-wide, such as ‘Milestone’ tests. Students are also aware of the
areas in which they have improved and of the next steps they need to take. It is vital that each
teacher follows the same methods to ensure each student gets the same support. Despite this, some
students require more support than others, due to other circumstances such as SEND (See Appendix
1.c). This policy fails to address students with additional learning needs; it is not clear how those
who are EAL (See Appendix 1.d), students labelled as Pupil Premium (See Appendix 1.a) or students
with SEND (See Appendix 1.c) are to be provided with additional support when it comes to feedback
and marking.

Pekrun, R. (2006). The Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions: Assumptions, Corollaries,

and Implications for Educational Research and Practice. Educational Psychology Review, 18(4),
pp.315-341.