The remote education journey that schools have been on since March 2020 is remarkable. We have witnessed an incredible feat of professional capacity building in a very short time and schools should be proud.

The learning that has been happening this week will likely look very different to what was happening in March 2020. There are three main reasons for this. 

First, teachers have developed a wealth of skills and knowledge that they didn’t have in March; some through trial and error, many through sharing ideas with each other.

Second, we have better evidence now. The Education Endowment Foundation’s rapid evidence assessment in April provided some helpful messaging: essentially that good teaching remains good teaching. And just this week, Ofsted’s Daniel Mujis produced a helpful summary of the emerging evidence regarding remote education, underpinned by what Ofsted found out from its autumn visits.

Finally, it is undeniable that the government’s ramping up of its expectations of schools, reinforced by the remote continuity direction, has impacted on what schools do. 

That’s not to say, of course, that the effects of government activity have been universally beneficial. The result is that there is more support for schools than in March but also more pressure on them to deliver a particular standard.

Assessment and feedback in remote classroom

Take the Department for Education’s expectations around assessment and feedback. It says schools should be:

• enabling pupils to receive timely and frequent feedback on how to progress.
• using digitally facilitated or whole-class feedback where appropriate.
• using assessment to ensure teaching is responsive to pupils’ needs and addresses any critical gaps in pupils’ knowledge.

Assessment was hard enough in the halcyon days before Covid-19 and it is likely to be even harder in the remote classroom.

In part, this is because some assessment takes place intuitively; a teacher spotting that a pupil looks confused or when questioning reveals a misunderstanding. Teachers may not explicitly plan for this in normal teaching, it just happens.

But online, this can become clunky and difficult. Maybe the teacher can’t see pupils’ expressions because cameras are off, or perhaps they are caught up in their explanation and haven’t thought to pose a question to check understanding.

Or, perhaps teaching is taking place via a pre-recorded video so there isn’t the opportunity for the teacher and pupil to interact. 

Dialogic distance

The greater physical distance between teachers and pupils can create a greater dialogic distance, making it hard to draw those all-important assessment inferences and provide useful feedback. It requires more conscious thought and planning.

It needn’t mean, however, that we require a vastly different understanding of pedagogy in the remote classroom (as Mujis pointed out). As long as we have a firm footing in the principles of effective assessment, those onlines quizzes and self-marking tests can certainly be of use. 

Here are the three key elements to remember:

1. Follow the curriculum 

Assessment should always follow the curriculum. We know the muddle our education system has got into previously when the assessment tail wags the curriculum dog. 

So, let’s start by making sure we know exactly what it is that we want pupils to learn and how this builds over time. Is the curriculum specific enough? Do the tasks you set remotely teach the key things you want pupils to know at that time?

2. Be clear about purpose

If you want insight into specific components, you need to aim your assessment accordingly. Without doing so, it can be hard to give the specific, meaningful feedback that helps pupils to improve.

If your low-stakes test is mainly about utilising the testing effect, then consider what and why you want pupils to remember that thing. Have you prioritised assessment of the right things?

3. Use your findings

Do something with the inferences you draw. It can be tempting in the remote classroom to see each lesson as a set piece delivery and, as a result, for teaching not to respond as it might normally to the child or class who have misunderstood something or forgotten a key fact. 

Maybe you need to adjust your plan for this lesson or the following one. Make sure your approach to remote education gives you the wiggle room to do this.  

The experience of remote education so far in this pandemic suggests effective assessment may be harder but more important than ever. It’s worth thinking deeply about how you can make it as efficient and effective as possible.