What is AFL?

One of the best things I’ve ever heard about Assessment For Learning (AFL) is:

Feedback is not a postmortem but a medical checkup

That sums it up.  AFL is about providing feedback on how to improve in the future (responsive) rather than judgement on what the student has been doing (reactive).

It therefore recognises the importance of the student owning the learning process.

Therefore AFL seeks to:

1. Start from where the learner is.
2. Give the student has an active role in the learning process
3. Make the student aware of the learning goals
4. Help students learn what standards are expecting from them and help steer them in the right direction
5. Involve students in self-assessment so they learn what steps they need to take to move towards their goals.
6. Provide feedback that leads students to recognise their next step.

Feedback during the learning process

The main challenge may be generating feedback during the learning, rather than after students have completed an activity. So this is something one may need to consciously plan for and reflect on.

Feedback should be specific

Feedback should focus on telling students what they did right, and what they lost points for.

Feedback should seek to answer questions like:

• What are the goals?
• How am I doing?
• What do I do next?

Create a mistake-friendly classroom

Students can use co-constructed success criteria to review their work and identify where they have made an error or not fully met the expectations of the learning.

Feedback should be cognitively challenging

Feedback should get students to think: students need to be cognitively challenged and need to engage with the feedback if it is to help develop their learning. 

The DIRT method is a feedback strategy used to help students improve their work. DIRT stands for:

Dedicated Improvement and Reflection Time

• Dedicated: Time is set aside specifically for feedback and improvement.
  • It may involve students in identifying how they are doing. Students are shown the criteria and asked to review the teacher’s comments on their work. They then choose three of the criteria they have achieved and explain how they know this.
• Improvement: Students act on feedback to enhance their work.
  • This may involve students in identifying the actions they need to take to improve their work. Students are shown the same criteria and asked to identify the action they should take to improve their work.
• Reflection: Students think about what they’ve learned and how they’ve improved.
• Time: It’s not rushed—students are given meaningful time to engage with feedback.

Teachers typically use DIRT after marking work, allowing students to respond to comments, correct mistakes, and deepen understanding. It encourages active learning and growth mindset.

Transition to self-monitoring

Students need to become involved in the evaluative experience The transition from teacher-supplied feedback to learner self-monitoring is not something that comes about automatically.

Characteristics of effective feedback

• Discusses learning not tasks – related to where students are going, how they are doing, where to next;
• Is medical and not a post-mortem i.e. is about improving the learner not their tasks;
• Discusses the success criteria (quality), highlights errors, misconceptions/misunderstandings, and actions to take;
• Uses open questions to encourage students to do the thinking;
• Raises aspirations, efforts and motivation through high expectations and belief in potential;
• Moves from task performance towards task process and self regulatory levels, not the self level;
• Supports students to react in a way so they increase their effort or raise their aspirations;
• Is conducted as a two-way processes which supports students as learning apprentices in becoming experts and owners of their own learning.