Embedding formative assessment and IRIS – more than cake bribery!

By Simone Mabbett, Assistant Principal, Erdington Academy

As we hurtle towards the finish line of our two-year Embedding Formative Assessment (EFA) journey, it felt like a good time to step back and reflect upon what has been a truly transformational process in terms of how we effectively use formative assessment in our classrooms and the passionate and reflective staff and student conversations around teaching and learning happening regularly at Erdington Academy.

The first I heard about SSAT’s EFA programme was through my line manager Liz Cross, Vice Principal. She asked me to lead the programme as part of my leadership remit. After looking at the EFA web page, I set up a call to learn about how we could use this programme to change teachers’ habits in the classroom through the use of TLCs (Teacher Learning Communities) and really shape how our CPD programme could be driven forward. We not only talked about the programme itself, but also the impact of using formative assessment, and how it was underpinned by credible EEF evidence.

Furthermore, I looked at some of the case studies on the EFA website and Lostock High School, caught my eye, as I was interested in their Everybody Expected to Participate (EEP) initiative – more on this later! So, I ensured that I visited this school as well as some of the ambassador schools. The visits were extremely useful – I loved meeting the staff, students and other stakeholders who talked about the positive impact in their schools, but I always asked the same questions: What were the barriers? How could I get buy in? There were lots of suggestions and solutions (and a lot of bribery involving cake, which of course I adopted!) but it did give me some food for thought – no pun intended!

Following the visits, I realised that it would be best to start the staff training in June, with the first TLC taking place in September the next academic year to ensure that we were fully prepared. The potential barriers I could see were staff not having the capacity to visit each other’s lessons – we work in a busy school where things can change very quickly. If staff did not complete this key element of the TLCs, then I could see how the whole programme could fall down.

The solution came via IRIS Connect a platform that allows teachers to film their lessons and share them with others which could reduce the barriers to get into each other’s lessons. But filming yourself? How would staff react? The thought of filming myself and listening back to my dulcet Brummie tones left me a little worried, but the more I thought about the impact this could have for T&L within the Academy and it was a no brainer; it wasn’t just for use during the TLCs – it could be used for self-reflection, staff training, coaching, self-reflection – the potential was limitless.

We began to drip feed the idea of formative assessment through our staff briefings and CPD sessions that academic year and decided that the T&L focus for the next term would be cold calling. To support staff with this, we worked slowly to introduce IRIS with staff, we wanted them to be confident and see the benefits. Over the term, staff started sharing clips of their lessons showing cold call to receive feedback and next steps – it was a remarkable success!

In the background, I was also thinking about the TLC paperwork. I wanted staff to value this and not see it as chore. I also wanted to reduce workload for the TLC leads in terms of photocopying and storing etc. Through IRIS, I was introduced to Anna Kosiacki, a Senior Learning Designer at IRIS connect. We talked through the format and the paperwork, and I explained my vision for how I would like the staff to use IRIS as their sole area for resources, paperwork and feedback. Anna worked tirelessly coming up with different pathways and ideas on how IRIS could seamlessly support the TLC element of the EFA programme. We tried some different prototypes and agreed on a final version of the pathways – which has been invaluable in this programme.

June came around very quickly and Ian Healey our EFA mentor came to deliver our training in the summer term. We did a ‘soft launch’ with all staff following this and did a full launch in September. Staff attended their first TLC on the second teacher training day and we’ve never looked back! Alongside this September launch, we also launched our own ‘magpied’ version of the Everybody Expected to Participate from Lostock High School. We focused on three key formative assessment techniques, where at least one would be present in each lesson: Cold call, Turn & Talk and Mini whiteboards. These are now embedded into our academy’s culture.

18 months after the launch where are we?

Staff tried over 62 different EFA techniques over the course of the last academic year:

• Staff are more open to taking risks and reflecting upon techniques.
• Staff and student voice shows that they both understand the importance of formative assessment and making teaching more dynamic and adaptive to the learner.
• Formative assessment is now the ‘norm’ and is seen in all lessons.

In a nutshell: the quality of teaching and learning has improved and there is a real buzz around discussions with staff reflecting upon their own teaching and working together to get even better.

But don’t just take my word for it…

“This TLC experience has opened doors to deeper reflections about my practice and has allowed me to collaborate with other departments on teaching techniques, departments with which I would have never crossed paths with if it were not for this initiative. It brings a culture of sharing and caring (terrible English) when colleagues meet as a group and exchange thoughts and best practise. In a nutshell TLC really is Tender Loving Care for our practice and that of others, isn’t it?”
Nathalie Charlery, Subject Lead MFL

“So far on the TLC journey I have found different parts useful. I have enjoyed learning how to use IRIS and found it an extremely helpful tool in helping me self-reflect as well as getting feedback from my fellow teachers. I have also enjoyed meeting up with teachers from different departments and hearing about their experiences. So far, I have had a lot of helpful feedback which has helped me to work on my own practice when it comes to types of activities such as turn & talk and using the pause, pounce, bounce technique to help develop my answers.”
Gabbi Benain, Teacher of ICT

As we look to the future we are still deciding on our focus for T&L and CPD for the next academic year, but there are three things we do know – formative assessment, TLCs and cakes are here to stay!