ABSTRACT
Perhaps the most important aspect of assessment to promote progression is that the children are clear about what they are supposed to be learning from any activity, whether it is discussion, making a model or writing. The way of recording thinking is to take photographs of children engaged in history activities, mount them on a large sheet of paper and annotate the photograph with children's comments and the teacher's interventions. Formative assessment is part of what teachers do continuously, through asking questions and observing how pupils go about activities, to check to what extent children have learned what was planned. O. Knight describes a unit of work in which pupils had considerable scope for self-monitoring and assessment, which they found highly motivating. 'Removing levels' will allow teachers greater flexibility in the way they plan and assess pupils' learning. The Concepts of History and Teaching Approaches project attempted to link patterns of progression in historical thinking to age-related progression.
