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Parents as Partners
AifL is about better learning and achievement in Scottish schools. It encourages everyone involved - pupils, staff, parents, the wider school community - to talk about learning and to use information from assessment as feedback to inform planning for improvement.
At the heart of good assessment practice is the idea that learners learn best when:
- they understand clearly what they are trying to learn, and what is expected of them
- they are given feedback about the quality of their work and what they can do to make it better
- they are given advice about how to make improvements
- they are fully involved in deciding what needs to be done next and who can give them help if they need it.
In the AifL community, everyone is learning together in this way. With 85% of their children's lives in their care, parents are learners too. They are central to supporting their children's learning, progress and achievement. They are fully aware of how assessment supports learning and increasingly able to contribute actively to the assessment process.
The AifL triangle overleaf sets out 10 key features of the AifL school, and how parents can be involved in making it work successfully.
Under the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 parents have the right to advice and information about their child's learning and education. The school must also look at ways of assisting parents to support their children's learning and give them the chance to become more involved with the work of the school and its community.
The following websites provide more information on the AifL programme and how parents can support their child's learning:
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/assess
http://www.parentzonescotland.gov.uk/
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/parentsaspartnersinlearning
AifL - Assessment is for Learning
Activity for use with groups of parents (e.g. Parent Councils)
- An important principle of AifL is that people talk together about learning, using feedback to decide what is going well and what needs to be improved. This activity invites you to work together in this way to reflect on parents' involvement in their children's learning in your school, mirroring the approach your children are experiencing in the classroom.
- One of the ways in which children are encouraged to think about their own and others' work is known as 'Two Stars and a Wish'. They agree with their teacher what the piece of work was trying to achieve and 'what a good one looks like'. They then choose two things about a piece of work that they think are strengths, and one thing that they think could be improved.
- With a partner, you are invited to take 15 minutes to consider the 10 key features of the AifL triangle from the parents' point of view (the features in purple on the triangle diagram).
- Choose two which you think are already going well in the school and put a star beside them.
- Choose one which you think needs to be developed, and mark it 'W'.
- Now join up with another pair in the group and compare notes. Agree two stars and a wish for your group of four.
- As a whole group, write your 'stars' and 'wishes' on separate sheets and discuss them.
- Agree one or two priorities for the school to look at as 'next steps', and how parents could work together with the school staff to make them happen.
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