Personal Learning Planning - Examples of Good Practice

Peer Assessment - Examples of Good Practice

Traffic Lights - Examples of Good Practice

Self-Assessment - Examples of Good Practice

From our Primary Schools



From Broughton High School

Learning Logs for Writing

A working group of teachers from our different primary schools have created Learning Logs for Writing from Level A to Level E. This is to help pupils to understand better how they are doing and how they can improve.

Mark Less to Raise Attainment

“Feedback to any pupil should be about the particular qualities of his or her work, with advice on what he or she can do to improve, and should avoid comparisons with other pupils” – © P.Black & D.Wiliam “Inside the Black Box” 2001

Assessment for learning is all about using assessment and feedback to get the pupils involved in their own learning and improve it according to their own ability. Teachers and pupils alike, however, enjoy the use of grading and scores to know exactly where a person is in the scale of the whole class. As much as scoring has its benefits for recording and analysing results, it does not give each child specific feedback as to how they could improve. What is one good way of combating this?

As every pupil is different, they require different feedback as to how they can improve. Advocates of the “Assessment is for Learning” programme encourage the use of “comment-only marking” to tackle this issue. Instead of telling young Joe Bloggs that he has only got 5 out of 27 for his homework compared to the high scores of his friends, why not write something like,
“Well done for the effort you made in trying every question. To improve on this piece of work, try writing down more working so that it is easier for you to notice if you make an accidental mistake. Well done for your neat writing and clear layout.”
Doing this avoids the situation where every pupil compares their grades – leading to discouragement for those not doing as well as their friends. On the contrary, it means every pupil can be told something positive to boost their self esteem and they can be given specific advice on how to improve their work at their own level.

By grading less and giving more encouraging and motivating feedback, teachers can give their students a good chance of making real improvement in the most appropriate and beneficial way.

Self and Peer Assessment

Self and Peer Assessment involves students taking responsibility for monitoring and making judgements about aspects of their own or peer’s learning. Students can develop lifelong evaluation skills both about their own work and thinking as well as others.

The cluster has created two posters to facilitate the use of Self and Peer Assessment in the classroom. After an exercise, pupils may be asked to refer to these posters to reflect on their work or on the work of their peers. It allows them to develop learning strategies based on their evaluations.

Here are a few examples of pupils’ responses using the posters:

Spanish – After a Speaking exercise

• I am pleased with this work because:
– I managed to speak quite smoothly without many pronunciation errors.

• Two improvements I made are:
– I understand more of the language.
– I pronounce the words better than I did at the beginning.

• Next time I need to focus on:
– pronouncing the endings of the words more and speak with less of a French accent!

Spanish – After a speaking exercise

• You have met the criteria here by speaking clearly.

• This is your best because you were going at a good pace.

• You could improve further by saying hello and goodbye.

Traffic lights

Traffic lights are used in many different areas of the curriculum and can be used by students at all levels to help them to assess where they are in their learning and identify what needs to be addressed for them to move forward with a particular learning outcome or in a block of study.

The posters above are examples of traffic lights displayed on classroom walls, to prompt pupils to reflect on how well they have understood a lesson or completed a piece of work. A green light means they have fully understood an instruction or a learning outcome. An amber light means that they are getting there, but still are unsure and may need support. A red light means that they have not yet understood and will need more teaching in this particular area.
Traffic lights are used in a variety of formats to assist students to reflect on their learning, as well as to help in opening communication channels between individuals and class teachers. It can be confidential and does not draw unnecessary attention to the fact that an individual has difficulty. Posters may be on the wall and pupils can use the statements in order to colour in a traffic light shape on their page. Traffic lights sheets may be given to a whole class or to an individual in order to help them reflect on several learning outcomes at the one time. Traffic light prisms can be easily constructed with laminated paper and pupils can turn prism to show the teacher whether or not they need help during a lesson.

Traffic lights can be used at different stages of learning:-
· They can be used after initial instructions have been given, before progressing to a practical task.
· They can be used towards the end of a block of study to help students focus on learning outcomes before sitting an end of unit assessment.
· They can be used during a lesson to unobtrusively alert the teacher to individuals or groups who would benefit from assistance.
· They can be used over a whole school session to demonstrate progress with a group of students, some of whom may have started the session at red or amber and by the end of the year have moved on to a green light for that block of study.

Next steps

The important stage when using traffic lights is to consider what the next steps are to be.
If every student shows a green light in every area then the teacher will be happy to move on to the next stage in learning, or to present the class for a written assessment.

If a large number of students are showing amber on a learning outcome then perhaps the topic needs more input, or a new approach to teaching this topic should be considered.

If a small group are red or amber, this group can be targeted for further teaching. If a large number of pupils are showing red on a learning outcome this could be an indication to the teacher that either the topic was not covered sufficiently or there are serious misunderstandings about the success criteria.
Analysis of students’ traffic lights sheets can assist the students in identifying their next steps and their targets for the future. It can also be reassuring and confidence boosting when they can track their own progress. The teacher can also analyse the traffic lights results to decide on next steps for the whole class, certain groups, or individuals. This process can also facilitate the teacher’s own reflection on the success of the teaching methods used.

Traffic Lights can be fun to use !

Traffic Lights can be easy to implement!

Traffic Lights facilitate planning of next steps and future targets !

Are you ready? Get set! Go!

Two Stars and a Wish

This is a simple and positive way for both teachers and pupils to mark or respond to pieces of work, while at the same time identify ways of improving. The idea is that the two stars are given for two things that are good about the work and the wish identifies what could be improved, extended or attempted next time.

One of the best things about Two Stars and a Wish is its flexibility: It works in a whole range of subjects; with adaptation it can be made to work across all age groups; it can be used on anything from forming a single letter to review of a whole project; it can be as individual or as broad as circumstances demand and finally it can be applied in a range of ways. On paper; stickers, stamps or simple drawings can be used to highlight the points or the whole process can be done verbally either one-to-one, in peer groups or as a whole class.

To be effective children do need to be given practice in the kinds of positive language to use. They also need to understand the concept of and the specific learning intentions or aims of the lesson, activity or project. Having this knowledge ensures that the process is focussed on enhancing what you want the children to learn. As with all formative assessment strategies sharing, recording and following through on “wishes” is the key to success. The forming of a path of achievements that pupils and teachers can follow.

Thumbs Up

Children are encouraged to show “thumbs up” if they have fully understood a teaching point.

If they do not understand they indicate this by displaying a “thumbs down.”
A limited understanding would result in the children showing “horizontal thumbs.”This is a very quick method of informing the teacher the level of understanding within the class.

What is an AiFL school?

"An AifL school is a place where everyone is learning together. It is a place where assessment is part of learning and teaching without dominating them. In an AifL school:
staff are skilled in using assessment to support learning and in planning next steps in consultation with pupils and their parents
pupils and staff are fully involved in planning, reflecting on and evaluating their own learning
there are sound procedures in place for quality assuring assessment judgements, and for using them as evidence to plan for improvement.
In an AifL school, therefore, learning and teaching need to be really well planned. By using formative assessment, reflective self-assessment and summative assessment – that is assessment FOR learning, assessment AS learning and assessment OF learning – as part of learning and teaching, schools can help pupils to achieve course aims and to develop their learning and thinking skills."

From Learning and Teaching Scotland

‘Take an answer round the class’

A strategy for Effective Questioning and Discussion

When a child gives an incorrect or incomplete answer, instead of responding say ‘Wait there and we’ll see what others think’.
Then take the question round the class and get a range of answers and bring it back to the child who gave the first answer. Then ask ‘Which answer do you like best?’ This technique not only avoids ‘fixing’, it means that the rest of the class re-engage and the child who answered originally also needs to keep listening and thinking. It relies on you using the technique regularly and always coming back.

‘Learning Logs’

A strategy for self assessment



A learning log is where the children keep a note of their thoughts and feelings about their work on an occasional daily or weekly basis. The log is the child’s property but the teacher has access to it and if the children are given time to complete them regularly and are committed to them and take them seriously, the teacher can gain valuable information for progress reports from them.

The learning logs can also help children to set their own targets for the next week/ set period of time e.g. My target(s) from now until ……

A typical log might ask pupils to complete 3 sentences from a list of statements such as;

What I found most interesting today /this week was………

What surprised me most was…………

What pleased me most was…….

What I enjoyed most about today/this week was………

Right now I feel pleased with myself/ happy because……..

One thing that still puzzles me is………..

What I need help with is………

Today might have been more helpful for me if………


The learning log can be a general response to the day’s/week’s work, or alternatively can have a particular focus. For example if a new concept has been learned in maths that day, the teacher may ask the children to write three comments on the maths lesson only.