Essay Sample on Teaching Learning and Assessment

Introduction

Successful student learning is most effective when it is aligned with the appropriate systems of standards, curriculum, and assessment. Notably, the alignment of the assessment with the objective of the instructions enhances maximum benefits on the parts of the students and teachers. Ideally, studies have shown that students are more likely to learn in such scenarios because the instructions are focused on specific objectives and because they are assessed in the learning elements in which they are taught. In this sense, therefore the assessment forms an integral component of learning among students from different categories in educational systems. One major characteristic of the current instructional strategies in United Kingdom educational systems is that the educational objectives of each subject are made clear to the teachers, who are in turn needed to impart appropriate skills and knowledge to their students to achieve those objectives. While this is so, the description of the teaching practice, curriculum and assessment have been a significant challenge on the part of the teachers. Without standards, secondary schools will lack adequate goals to shoot. Matching what is taught in classrooms in each subject area will enable teachers to know what to teach, what the students should be learning and the testing strategies that should be applied. This paper, therefore, provides an analysis of a broad range of theoretical approaches to assessment and which reflects upon and considers the impact that these approaches have on my learners in teaching practice.

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Theoretical Approaches to Learning Assessment

According to Denis (2018), assessment of learning refers to the process of gathering data by the teachers about their teaching and student's learning with the aim of acquiring a reflection of the range of activities using various forms of assessment. It forms a great component of the decision-making process where the instructors design ways to improve the outcomes recognised weaknesses, gaps, and deficiencies in line with teaching. Various studies have further appreciated that the primary purpose of the assessment is to enhance the students' learning and teachers teaching based on the fact that both can respond to the information provided. An assessment is, therefore, an ongoing process in the learning process that emerges out of the interaction between teaching and learning (Gibbs and Simpson, 2004). What assesses learning effectively is how the information is utilised. The assessment can do more than a diagnose and identify student's learning needs and therefore can be used to assist improvements across the education the education system in a cycle of continuous improvements. The assessment can enable teachers and students to use the information gained from the assessment to determine the learning and teaching steps (Dixson and Worrell, 2016). The assessment can also facilitate the information transmission to parents and families about the next learning plans a well as the progress being made. The Ministry of Education can further use the assessment information to undertake policy review and development at a national level. As such, government funding and policy can be targeted appropriately with the aim of supporting improved outcomes.

Theoretical Approaches to Assessment

Formative Assessment

The formative assessment refers to a type of learning assessment strategy that is intended to provide real-time information about if and how students are learning (Dixson and Worrell, 2016). The assessment further can demonstrate the factors that may be impeding their progress. Ideally, the considerable insights gained from these ongoing classrooms can assist teachers in shaping and aligning the instructions with the aim of guiding the teachers. The effective use of the formative assessment further plays a critical role in adding the balance to the assessment systems. According to Gibbs and Simpson (2004), the formative assessments integrate all those activities undertaken by teachers and their studies to provide information to be utilised as the feedback. This helps modify both the teaching and learning processes in which they are involved. The objective of any modifications to instructions is enhanced through student's learning. Various models and studies have claimed that the formative assessment practice is based on the Bloom's concept of "mastery learning an instructional approach that espouses the use of assessments to gauge students' progress toward mastering a learning goal." In his book, Bloom asserted that instead of waiting to assess students at the end of the units or specific subject areas, which is a common practice, teacher utilise the assessments as a key component of the instructional process with the aim of identifying the learning challenges and difficulties presented by learners and ultimately offer a prescription of the remedy. In the view of Guskey, Bloom borrowed the term formative from Scriven, who previously used the term to describe the program evaluation activities done during the program to provide feedback on the developments on the program so that it could be subjected to improvement if needed.

The most important thing to note that is that the formative assessment does not adopt a given instrument or task. However, the approach is purely defined by its purpose. The purpose, in this case, is to assist to establish and shape the student's learning during the learning and teaching process. In the view of Frohbeiter, Greenwald, Stecher, & Schwartz (2011), this type of assessment is better described as a process than an assessment type. Erikson (2007) further used the term proximal formative assessment to offer an indication that this type of evaluation integrates activities that are close to instructions. He defines it as the continual assessment taking stock that instructors do by paying initial observational attention that is directed towards a specific aspect of the learner's developing understanding (Dixson and Worrell, 2016).

To facilitate the process of formative assessment, instructors or teachers need to utilize the appropriate strategies that will not only reveal how students appear to have grasped the concepts being taught in class but also how he or she has an understanding of it. Ideally, the formative assessment encourages and practices the need to have a strong base or foundation regarding the instructional processes. As such, the information they reveal will play a tremendous role in identifying whether and how the instructions should be aligned to develop the student's understanding of the elements being taught (Dixson and Worrell, 2016).

There is a universal consensus that to play the role of a formative purpose; the assessment must be able to provide the students with the actionable information for instructors and the students. As such, the assessment will give a revelation regarding the student's progress towards certain learning goals, their thoughts processes and any learning misconceptions they may hold. In this sense, therefore, the formative assessment to learning must be directed and focused on some students being addressed assessed, the appropriate learning targets and the specified instructional processes. It means that the assessment must adopt a form that is likely to generate the expected and desired learning outcomes and evidence. Moreover, teachers must understand that there is no individual prescription of how the formative assessment should look like or be portrayed. Ideally, any instructional activity that provides the instructors with an opportunity to unmask the mechanisms students think about the elements they are taught and can be used to enhance improvement in student's performance can, therefore, be used for formative purposes. The high integration of the formative assessment makes it one of the most utilised learning assessments methods. Commonly, it takes the form of classroom exchanges between teachers and students. Such exchanges, as well as the interactions, have a critical role in closing the linkage or the gap involved during teaching and learning.

Summative Assessment of Learning

According to Dixson and Worrell (2016), summative assessment is any strategy of evaluation carried at the end of a given unit that enables teachers to measure a student`s understanding, specifically against the standardised criteria. The objective of the summative assessment is to evaluate students` comprehension of the material provided at the end of a unit of work, and more often than ever, it is estimated with a grade or percentage on the given subject. As opposed to the informal nature of formative assessment, summative assessment demand a precise expectation and stipulated timelines to afford the students a superb opportunity to succeed. Usually, with summative assessment, teachers or education instructors employ rubric or assessment criteria to make sure that the students have a comprehensive knowledge of what they expect to get in a given test of such kind. Summative assessment results are usually critical because they are principal determinant on whether a student will pass a given unit or class. Now, because summative assessment assists teachers and students in seeing the trajectory of their learning, teachers can use them to establish which students are ready for others task or not, as well as which students need extra time to build a specific concept.

Examples of summative assessment in learning include written evaluations where student are tasked with writing an original piece for instance narrative or analytical essay. There is also performance summative assessment, and in this case, students are required to perform an activity or a task the will indicate a measure of their potentials. The other kind of this category of the assessment is a standardised assessment. With this type, students will be exposed to an examination created for a given curriculum and will thus be evaluated against the existing rubric, shared with the learners throughout a course. The last example of summative assessment in this context is the oral assessment, and here, the student is subjected to oral questions whereby they are expected to craft and deliver oral pieces in form or speech or presentations.

It is also possible for teachers to apply summative assessment in the social work area of study, and apply it to learners in the classroom (Yorke, 2011). This can be used to examine how social workers can utilise summative assessments to define if an intervention strategy was fruitful for a client or not. The same assessment can be used against teachers or education instructors; for instance, summative assessment can be applied to find out if the teacher`s instructional strategies are meaningful for learners or not. In a broad view of summative assessment that is a learner-centered classroom, education instructors are not entirely responsible student`s learning and performance, but rather, the students cut a pie and play a vital role in their education. The significant difference between summative and formative assessments is fundamentally based on the period in which they are stipulated. With summative assessment, evaluations are given upon completion of a unit or class while the formative appraisal is ongoing. Given the time-space variation, formative assessment helps the teacher to define the gaps in areas of student's studies, and this enables them to according to update the lesson planning. Summative assessment is very critical since it helps teachers to involve all types of learners, and allow them to showcase their skills, for instance, summative assessment strategies for music students include having the students play together, make music or mini-performance. But generally, applying spectra of...