Evaluation of the Key Stage 2 Language Learning Pathfinders

However, even where assessment formed part of the local authority scheme of work anddevised units, monitoring of pupil progress was patchy and varied across the year groupsand across the case study schools within Pathfinders. A range of assessment strategieswere used across the case study schools visited:• no assessment• informal monitoring of work in class• observation of pupils’ participation• the use of whiteboards and ‘show me’• teacher assessment during the lesson, by listening to what they have been doing,what they are saying, observing them and discussion• the French teacher had a record book in which she kept a personal record of thework the children do, with a view to feeding back to class teachers anybody who isparticularly able and also those who are struggling. This enabled her to write aFrench comment on pupils’ annual reports.• monitoring of verbal output (everyone had the opportunity to take part, for example,through team games and the class teacher could watch the pupils’ performance)• feedback to pupils’ responses to questions• monitoring children’s ability to answer the questions posed• ‘I sometimes do a quick test, and that’s when I might use a tape, or the FLA, becausesometimes when the FLA has spoken, they look at me when she’s spoken, althoughshe’s speaking the same as me. So I do ‘quick ten’ - I might do numbers, orwhatever topic we’re doing, so that I get some idea. In Year 3 their puppet is Frenchand they write about their puppet in their French book – i.e. je m’appelle Pierre.J’habite à Lille en France’ (primary teacher). An issue was that too much writing cantake up a whole lesson, which was only 20 minutes.• looking at their workbooks/ worksheets• self-assessment ‘I can do….’• photographic evidence• Over the year the Year 6 teacher took in a couple of pieces of written work, for whichcomments rather than a mark or grade were given as feedback, and the focus wason what was good in each piece of work rather than errors. Writing was not doneduring a 30 minute lesson as pupils could do that later as a back up with a memberof staff.• end of section assessments• half- termly or termly assessment81