Assessment for Learning: Setting and Using Success Criteria in Math and Science Lessons in Primary Education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Assessment for Learning: Setting and Using Success Criteria in Math and Science Lessons in Primary Education

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Pedagogy and didactics; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Competence in math and science has been identified at EU level as one of the key competences for personal fulfillment, active citizenship, social inclusion and employability in the knowledge society of the 21st century. The aimed to effect a change across Europe in the teaching and learning of math and science by supporting teachers to develop Assessment for Learning pedagogies (ASL).
3 participating countries:
Bureau for Development of Education (BDE)
BDE is a public body within the Ministry of Education and Science, that acts as a legal entity and performs professional activities relevant to the development and promotion of education in the Republic of North Macedonia. The Bureau’s competences include the improvement of teaching and learning by developing new curricula and plans, developmental research, counseling and training of teachers and evaluation of student achievement.
Cambridge International Examinations (UCLES) is the world’s largest provider of international education programs and qualifications for 5 to 19 year olds, producing about 5.7 million examination papers every year. Cambridge is also a trusted education partner for governments in over 30 countries, working with public bodies to provide the national examinations for learners and with governments to develop and introduce new education and assessment systems. As part of this work Cambridge also organizes training for officials, teachers and examiners.
Aflatoun International provides social and financial education to children in 117 countries through a partner network. Its materials are tailored to meet the evolving needs of children and young people in diverse settings. Aflatoun’s curricula build stronger capacities and abilities amongst teachers to effectively achieve its educational objectives and facilitates a pool of trainers and mentors in all regions to support all curricula products. Aflatoun focuses on pedagogy along with content in its curricula, equipping teachers with new teaching tools that they can apply beyond the basic curricula.
Project activities supported teachers with ASL pedagogies in math and science by providing resources for their professional development. Through teachers’ new experiences with ASL pedagogies, the project reached the students, who in return gained the first-hand experience on how to assess their skills for scientific and mathematical inquiry and problem solving. Effective use of ASL has been shown to be beneficial for all students, including those with lower achievement.
In order to achieve sustainable improvements in math and science teaching, it was very important to support ‘communities’, i.e. small teams of practice where teachers and other relevant players had a chance to cooperate and collaborate with each other with a view to learning autonomously as well as supporting the learning of others. A particular form of collaborative practice was implemented, the ‘lesson study’, in which groups of teachers met regularly over whole school year to work on the design, implementation, testing, and improvement of a specific lesson. During the project teachers implemented and prepared reports of the lessons learned, particularly with respect to the research question on ASL and their reports were framed as success stories.
Results: 5 Intellectual outputs in a form of a modules for teacher training/professional development.
Intellectual outputs were pretested during the 4 face to face Training Activities and 1 on-line training.
Intellectual outputs were piloted in 30 primary schools for one school year by more than a 60 schools Lesson Study teams. The results from the dissemination of the outputs in the schools are presented in a format of a success stories.
The intellectual outputs are presented to the Sector for professional and Career Development of teachers in the BDE for accreditation and they are published on the Erasmus+ Platform for broad use which can help teachers’ professional development.
The Lesson Study methodology as a method of action research can be also easily transferred on any research question that teachers can raise, not only directing on assessment. It is a very good example of collaborative professional development activities in schools, and can be developed to help teachers make informed professional judgements about student learning and effective teaching strategies.
The Monitoring and evaluation methodology and tools also can be very useful for monitoring and evaluation the effects of any reform that can be introduced in the schools.
The Guidance for the pedagogical faculties can be used to empower teachers’ initial knowledge and skills about ASL.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 136620 Eur

Project Coordinator

Bureau for Development of Education & Country: MK

Project Partners

• STICHTING AFLATOUN INTERNATIONAL
• UCLES