Cooperative Learning About Assessment for Learning

Abstract

Assessment for learning (AfL) is salient in the rhetoric of policymakers and national steering documents in many countries. It has also been embraced by educators internationally, including those in Norway. However, despite the explicit positive intentions of all parties, there are many challenges in the process of AfL implementation in schools. One major challenge is the increased testing regime practised at a national level which presents teachers with the dilemma of whether to teach to the test to ensure high test scores or support learners in developing sustainable learning strategies. In other words, teachers often must choose between short-term and long-term learning effects. A second challenge is the isolation some teachers feel when practising AfL because it has not been integrated into the wider culture of their workplace; consequently, AfL is not valued equally by colleagues and school leadership. There is insufficient cooperation regarding AfL, and the stakeholders involved do not share a common assessment language. The current chapter presents a Norwegian project in which various stakeholders engaged in cooperative learning about assessment, focusing on the professional development in AfL of head teachers who lead subject matter teams. The project involved cooperation between a regional educational authority, an expert in assessment from the university (the researcher), the school principals, and four head teachers from each of five schools. The project’s aim was to support head teachers’ cooperative learning about how to improve assessment practice and to allow them to serve as agents of AfL in their own subject matter teams as well as in other teams in their schools.