Umalusi

One of the most crucial educational challenges requires educators to develop learners with critical, creative and conceptual minds. Put differently, the development of the learner’s ability to solve increasingly complex problems in particular subjects as well as in daily life should be a central pre-occupation of the work in the classroom. This paper argues for teachers’ deeper apprehension of the need for learning to progress towards specific levels of skill and understanding by using formative assessment and feedback as teaching tools. Formative assessment helps both teacher and learners to identify and understand the gaps between learners’ actual and desired performances. The paper addresses how an enhanced understanding of the formative monitoring of learner progress, attention to cognitive domain considerations in the creation of formative assessment and the place of formative assessment in a larger educational system are able to meet the challenge of developing well-rounded and innovative learners. The focus in this paper is on the use of formative assessment practices: the value of effective questioning in eliciting evidence of understanding; the role of peer- and self-assessment; and how clear task- and assessment criteria can build in reflective thinking practices. Recognising the full range of learner achievement in a diverse teaching and learning community through constructive feedback allows learners to learn from the experience of the group. The motivational effect of such feedback, inspires learners to achieve their best. In this way the learner becomes a strategic and effective learner.