Developing pupils’ success criteria in reading

Read, A., & Hurford, D. (2010). ‘I know how to read longer novels’– developing pupils' success criteria in the classroom. Education 3–13, 38(1), 87-100.

Background

The authors observed that the student teachers whom they were supporting in Initial Teacher Education displayed limited knowledge of the concept of Assessment for Learning (AfL). The institution that the authors worked in approached lesson design and assessment as discrete rather than integrated elements of teaching and learning.

Aims

This study explored how the AfL approach for enhancing student teachers’ knowledge of lesson planning and assessment could be adapted as a model for use by pupils in the primary classroom. It aimed to investigate whether pupils could generate success criteria independently within this framework and how they responded to the model, and to identify the challenges of the framework and how they could be overcome.

Sample

A class of Year 5 pupils and their teacher in an inner-London primary school participated in this study.

Method

The authors developed and piloted a Continuum model that enabled pupils to reflect on their current learning goals and predict their future learning development. They supported the teacher with co-lesson planning and teaching over three lessons. Pupils were encouraged to generate their own success criteria related to readers’ skills, knowledge and attitudes with ‘I can’, ‘I feel’ and ‘I know’ statements for a selected theme. Once these reader characteristics had been established, participants identified strategies to realise these goals. The authors and the teachers helped them develop the success criteria through discussions and participatory activities.

Findings

Pupils’ responses demonstrated that they could establish their own success criteria as the participatory approaches to engage them were plausibly motivating. Pupils were able to articulate the success criteria more successfully on the curriculum themes that they were familiar with. Their comments on the Reading Continuum seemed to indicate a deeper awareness of the support they needed as learners and engagement with their current experience. The teacher reported that even the less articulate pupils spoke up more, and more pupils contributed and worked collaboratively. The learner-centred activities also created opportunities for pupils to anticipate successful learning without being taught explicitly.

Implications

The writers emphasised the importance of an attitudinal shift by all participants which involves greater openness to take risk and to the integral role of AfL. They recommended that teachers needed to perceive their roles as facilitators instead of primary sources of knowledge and expertise and to commit to the participatory roles of AfL. A clearer delineation of how and who to collaborate with was necessary.

Original article retrieved from Google scholar.