Unlocking assessment as a superpower for teachers and school leaders - Workshop tactics for formative and summative alignment

Oct 23, 2026

Uploaded by Mia

Unlocking assessment as a superpower for teachers and school leaders outlines a July 2026 workshop focused on how assessment can build learner self-management, agency, and metacognition. It examines classroom environments and culture that strengthen wellbeing and relationships, and it applies assessment for learning approaches such as success criteria and feedback so learners can monitor, plan, and take responsibility for progress. Participants also identify practical tactics linking formative strategies to summative outcomes, including guidance on assessing self-management indicators and creating effective assessment cultures.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages37

Reading Time1 h 33 min

AccessFree to download

Unlocking assessment as a superpower for teachers and school leaders

Workshop objectives

Warm-up task

Definition of self-management

Assessing self-management

How effective assessment supports self-management

Building an effective assessment culture in schools

What a good assessment culture looks like

Some further thoughts

Indicators of over-assessment or wrong purpose

Cambridge Future Conference, preparing Schools July 2026 Unlocking assessment as a superpower for teachers and school leaders Dr Simon Child – The Assessment Network, Cambridge University Press & Assessment July 2026 -ready: learners to thrive In this workshop you will • Explore how assessment practices can promote learner self-management, agency and metacognition • Examine how classroom environments and culture can support wellbeing and positive relationships • Consider how assessment for learning strategies (success criteria and feedback) can help learners monitor, plan and take responsibility for progress • Collaborate to develop practical tactics that connect formative strategies with summative outcomes. Cambridge Schools Conference, July 2026 Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive |
Warm up task | | --- | |
What is your own definition of ‘self-management’?
| | | |

What role does assessment have in affecting learner’s selfmanagement? | | Cambridge Schools Conference, July 2026
Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive | A definition ‘An individual’s control of their behaviour, particularly regarding the pursuit of a specific objective’ Cambridge Schools Conference, July 2026 Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive |
Assessing self-management
• Identify the type of thinking and learning they have been engaged in and see what might be useful in other contexts.
• Seek out and act on guidance (review and improve)
• Identify and prioritise their own learning needs.
• Show independence in setting personal goals and targets.
• Prioritise the most important things to do.
• Use time effectively and persist with tasks in the face of frustration.
• Be aware of where their own learning fits into the bigger picture.
• Prepare to comment on the originality and value of their work.
[https://ccea.org.uk/downloads/docs/ccea](https://ccea.org.uk/downloads/docs/ccea)
asset/Resource/Rubric%20for%20Assessing%20Self-Management.pdf |
Cambridge Schools Conference, July 2026
Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive | | --- | --- | | How effective assessment supports self-management
| | | | --- | --- | --- | |
Helps define the ‘objective’e.g. learning outcome or abroader goal |
Supports ‘deliberate practice’of reactions to day-to-day learning events in a safe environment | | |
Opens a window in student’sown mind i.e. supports metacognition | |
Provides a motivational focus | |
Encourages reflection on progress – growth mindset | | Cambridge Schools Conference, July 2026
Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive | Building an effective assessment culture in schools Cambridge Schools Conference, July 2026 Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive What does a good assessment culture in a classroom look like? Teacher Learner Cambridge Schools Conference, July 2026 Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive |
Some further thoughts
• Feedback prioritised to ‘cause thinking’.
• Learners anticipate feedback and enjoy receiving it.
• ‘Improvement time’ to implement learning or remedial instruction.
• Learners recognise their own progress towards goals. | ‘It is increasingly important to reconsider the effects of assessment on each student’s long-term future learning capacity’
(Leong & Tan, 2014)
Cambridge Schools Conference, July 2026
Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive | | --- | --- | | Indicators that you are assessing too much in the classroom or with the wrong purpose
• Not having time to analyse performance to provide feedback
• Learners preoccupied by the next assessment
• Learners expressing anxiety
• Learners expressing performance motivations.
‘Once an emotional reaction occurs, the learning will certainly stop’
| | | --- | --- | | (Wiliam, 2011) | Cambridge Schools Conference, July 2026
Future-ready: preparing learners to th

FAQs

How does assessment support learner self-management and agency?

The workshop explains that assessment can promote learner self-management by helping learners identify priorities, set personal goals, plan progress, and reflect on learning needs. It also highlights deliberate practice in a safe environment and supports responsibility for next steps.

What assessment for learning strategies are emphasized?

It emphasizes success criteria and feedback so learners can monitor, plan, and take responsibility for progress. The session also encourages feedback tied to ‘cause thinking’ and includes ‘improvement time’ to apply learning or remedial instruction.

What does an effective assessment culture in a classroom look like?

A good assessment culture includes feedback that learners anticipate and enjoy receiving, recognition of progress toward goals, and opportunities for implementing learning improvements. The workshop frames it as supportive of wellbeing, positive relationships, and growth mindset reflection.

Oct 23, 2026

Uploaded by Mia