“Assessment for learning is a central feature of effective learning and teaching” During this school placement I had time to observe lessons across the school , and particularly within the mathematics department. I wanted to see whether assessment for learning was being used, if at all, to improve student learning. I have found that the school has a clear assessment of the learning agenda, which is made clear to all members of staff, who are encouraged to plan it into each of their lessons, to ensure effective learning. Different teachers obviously place different emphasis on assessing learning. I targeted for my observations not only teachers in my department, but also those who were renowned for their expertise in assessing learning. Below is a description of my observations and resulting findings. An 11 year old lesson where I observed at the beginning that they started a new topic; started the lesson with discussions and small tasks. The teacher told me that this was how he started all new topics, using these tasks and discussions as assessments to ascertain the pupils' current state of knowledge and understanding of the topic. This was an excellent example of AFL in practice, it allowed the first lesson to be used as an information seeking exercise to work out each student's starting point for that particular topic. Teaching can be explained as a journey, where a teacher guides the student on a path to greater knowledge. It is obvious that for this to happen it is necessary for the teacher to know the starting point and thus be able to devise the best path for the student. The teacher's first lesson use of a new topic to gather information about the student's current knowledge is AFL at its being... halfway through the article... being used as a tool to engage students and equip confer them the life skills needed to continue with their learning after school. References Butler, R. (1988) Enhancing and weakening intrinsic motivation: The effects of task- and ego-involving evaluation on interest and performance. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 58:1-14Sadler (1989) Formative evaluation and design of instructional systems, Instructional Science, 18:119-44Rowe (1974) Waiting time and rewards as instructional variables, their influence on language, logic and destiny control, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 11: 81-94David Spendlove (2013). Putting assessment into practice for learning. London: Bloomsbury. p1-50Paul Black et al (2011). Assessment for learning: putting it into practice. London: Open University Press. 5-71.