Understanding Assessment: A Practical Course for Teachers

Understanding Assessment: A practical course for teachers

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Online | Self-study | Fee: £150 (Members - £135)

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If you’re a teacher who wants to learn more about designing and delivering classroom-based assessments, Understanding Assessment – A Practical Course for Teachers is for you.  

This self-study, online course has been designed by Cambridge Assessment International Education and Cambridge Assessment Network specifically to support teachers to make the best assessment-related judgements and decisions for students, and to act as a launchpad for further professional development in assessment.  

Understanding Assessment will equip you with practical strategies for using assessment in the classroom, and will support you to: 

  • Ensure the assessments you design and deliver in your school are high quality
  • Use assessment to identify next learning steps for students
  • Feel confident that your approach to assessment is fair, accessible and a positive experience for students

Module titles

There are six modules and you can expect to spend around three hours learning on each one.

  • Introduction to the principles of assessment
  • Understanding assessment purposes
  • Introduction to designing and reviewing multiple-choice questions
  • Powerful questions to support teaching
  • Practical methods to improve marking quality
  • Overcoming learner barriers and challenges in assessment

Course features

  • A range of activities including videos and quizzes. Activities can be used for individual reflection or adapted to be used as part of departmental or school-level CPD
  • Discussion forums to talk about key issues in classroom assessments, and share your learning with other members of the teaching community
  • Certification for completion of course modules
  • Access to the course for 12 months, so you can revisit your learning
  • There is no limit to how many teachers can study on the course per school

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, you’ll:

  • Understand the key principles of assessment and how they are connected
  • Describe different purposes of assessment that are relevant to your current practice
  • Use assessment knowledge to evaluate the quality of your existing or planned assessments
  • Justify your choices based on your understanding of valid and reliable assessments
  • Develop new strategies to improve the quality and usefulness of assessment in your classroom practice

These learning outcomes are aligned with Cambridge Assessment Network’s Professional Framework - a statement about what we think good professional learning in assessment looks like and how it can be achieved.

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Understanding Assessment – A Practical Course for Teachers is an ideal starting point for teachers wishing to develop their assessment understanding for practical use in the classroom. 

To broaden and deepen your learning, Cambridge Assessment Network offers the A10 range of online courses that explore some of the topics covered in this course in more detail.

You may also be interested in our Master’s Level course, the Postgraduate Certificate in Educational Studies: Educational Assessment, which is offered in partnership with the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education. 

PGCA: Why it is a good time to invest in your professional learning in assessment

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Dr Simon Child, course co-director of the PGCA, gives his thoughts on how the course prepares students for the future of assessment.


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Bespoke solutions

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We will work with you to make your own assessment learning programme that supports your people and enhances expertise.