ABSTRACT
Teachers have always assessed children’s learning in a variety of ways. Classroom assessment may take place as informal or structured observations or as written tests. Whatever method of assessment is used, the main purpose of assessment remains the same – to provide information about children’s learning. What has been changing is the practitioners’ conception of assessment as something that teachers imposed on their children to a process in which they involved children. In the past, assessment has been seen by many – teachers, children and parents – as something that was carried out after teaching to check what has been learnt and make judgements; fear of failure and negative comparisons had been part of that image. During the past decade, increasing emphasis has been placed on the principle that assessment is strongly linked with learning and that it is a process that involves the active participation of both teachers and children.
