ABSTRACT
In the first part of the chapter, we will turn our attention to assessment. This is an essential component of a teacher’s pedagogy. As you will know, assessment processes provide important data about pupils’ learning that can serve various purposes. They inform the formal outcomes of learning (i.e. qualification frameworks or external awards). But the strategies of formative assessment can also empower teachers in their day-to-day work with pupils. These types of approach have become particularly popular in recent years and have informed many pieces of educational policy and been the focus of many publications (Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall and Wiliam 2003; Black and Wiliam 1998; Brooks 2002; Torrance and Pryor 1998). It is not this chapter’s purpose to revisit these ideas. Rather, a familiarity with key terminology and practices will be assumed as we reflect on the process of assessment as it is situated within new ways of cross-curricular working at the immediate level of curriculum design and classroom interaction.
