ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the issues of assessment data collection and accountability primarily from the perspective of someone considering or embarking upon a secondary English teacher training programme. Teachers of English, especially, should be sensitive to the intimate links between assessment and self-esteem. In the interests of reciprocity, the chapter draws attention to those occasions where there is a corresponding obligation upon the trainee to act as a creator and provider of assessment data for other interested parties. Parents and carers will receive formal written assessment information regarding their children's progress judged according to school-based and national criteria at times determined by the school or the government. Parents, carers and other family members have a right to know how their children are progressing at school. The choice of a category called Pastoral support outside school is also designed to emphasise the human dimension of assessment.
