Innovations in AfL

One of the themes found in innovative schools across the country is the focus on prioritising learning skills, behaviours and aptitudes. The work of Professors Carol Dweck, Guy Claxton and John Hattie, among others, has triggered fresh perspectives on learning and rightly demanded that we reframe our approaches to teaching, learning and leadership. I spoke to John Goodey, the pioneering headteacher at St John Baptist Primary School in Lewisham, about the approaches used to Assessment for Learning in his outstanding school.

Every Friday afternoon the classroom teacher will do a recap of all the learning that week with the whole class. This acts as a catalyst for the children as they go through their books and any other artefact of learning that they have produced. Both individually and in pairs, the children will re-read teachers’ marking and feedback, revisit peer feedback and their own reflections and then complete a proforma for their “Friday Learning Review”. The review includes: