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Background: Considerable evidence suggests that students' achievement emotions are important contributors to their learning and success online. It is, therefore, essential to understand and support students' emotional experiences to enhance online education, especially under the COVID‐19 context. However, to date, very few studies have investigated how students' achievement emotions might be affected by teaching and learning factors in online learning environments. Objectives: Based on Pekrun's (2006) control‐value theory of achievement emotions, this study examined the influence of students' perceived online teaching quality and appraisals of control and value on their achievement emotions in an online second language (L2) learning context instigated by the COVID‐19. Methods: Data were collected using an online survey of 1503 undergraduates from ten universities across different regions of China. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were performed to test the validity of the instruments and structural equation modelling were conducted to examine the relations between L2 teaching and learning variables. Results and Conclusions: Results revealed that perceived teacher internet and communication technology competence had positive effects on enjoyment, but negative effects on anxiety and boredom, and these effects were fully mediated by perceived control and/or value. Perceived chaotic teaching structure (CTS) had reverse effects for the three emotions. Perceived CTS effects on enjoyment and anxiety were fully and partially mediated by perceived control, respectively. Takeaways: Online teaching quality is critical for students' appraisals and emotions towards L2 learning. Teachers should strive to improve online teaching quality and design interventions targeting students' perceived control and value to temper their affective experiences associated with the crisis‐prompted online teaching practices. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Teachers' internet and communication technology (ICT) competence and pedagogical design can enhance students' e‐learning efficacy, motivation and interests.Students' perceived control and value can influence their achievement emotions in online learning.Teacher's ICT competence and pedagogical design can impact students' emotions in online learning. What this paper adds: Perceived teacher ICT competence and chaotic teaching structures can have differential impact on students' perceived control and value for e‐learning.Perceived control and intrinsic value differently mediated the effects of the two teaching factors on students' emotions for e‐learning.Perceived teacher ICT competence and chaotic teaching structures can have both direct and indirect effects on students' e‐learning emotions via perceived control and value. Implications for practice and/or policy: Teacher training and development programs should prepare teachers for varying teaching formats including unplanned online teaching due to a forced switch to remote teaching.Teachers should acquaint themselves with using various online platforms and software to communicate the goals, expectations, structures and requirements of their language lessons to students' in a clear manner.Online language teaching interventions aiming to increase or decrease a specific emotion could directly target specific combinations of teaching characteristics and appraisals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful understudies are understudies who perform much preferable scholastically over their companions. While advantages to are being a successful understudy, for example, getting additional help from instructors, they likewise experience interesting difficulties like expanded recurrence of harassing. A large part of the exploration on this gathering of understudies depends on quantitative investigations led on members of Caucasian plummet. It is proposed that getting a superior comprehension of these successful understudies could be accomplished by figuring out their encounters through a subjective methodology. A singular's encounters and discernments can be impacted by social factors and directing examination with an Asian populace would assist better with understanding how factors which are all the more unequivocally accentuated in Asian culture, for example, obedient devotion and acquiescence to guardians add to the encounters of Asian successful understudies Education is viewed as basic for the advancement of the people, yet additionally for the improvement of local area and country. To achieve upgrades in all perspectives, and use present day and creative procedures and techniques, people need to produce mindfulness and improve their instructive abilities. The primary reason for this examination paper is to figure out the elements that impact the scholarly presentation of the understudies in auxiliary schools in India. In optional schools, there are various variables inside school and outside school that impact the scholastic presentation of the understudies. The fundamental regions that have been considered incorporate, factors impacting the scholarly exhibition of the understudies, scholastic execution and huge number of understudies in class, parental and related factors connecting with scholastic accomplishment, commitment of school factors towards the scholastic presentation of understudies, impact of destitution on scholastic accomplishment of understudies and different reasons for low scholarly accomplishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on our participatory multi‐faceted community‐wide intervention to change gender perceptions and encourage support for girls' education to improve their school attendance and performance. The intervention involved community and education stakeholders in implementing a context‐specific multi‐faceted intervention to improve opportunities for girls in 123 primary schools in the rural Wolaita Zone, Ethiopia. We implemented a repeated‐measures quasi‐experimental design in a sample of 30 schools (15 project and 15 control schools) to evaluate the intervention's effectiveness. Over 3 years we assessed gender perceptions of a cohort of 750 Grade 6 girls, their parents and teachers in project and control schools. In addition, participative group discussions were conducted with various stakeholders. In project schools, we recorded significant changes (e.g., provision of sanitary pads, counselling, tutorial classes and community involvement). Teachers and parents reported improved gender attitudes and support for girls' education; while girls' self‐esteem scores and educational aspirations increased. The findings showed a change in community perceptions of the value of girls' education and some evidence of increased equality in gender perceptions. We concluded that these systemic changes marked the start of a long‐term change process. This intervention showed the value of a participatory approach in a systemic community intervention. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We provide some guidelines for practitioners combining data from TALIS and PISA in empirical analyses. • We stress that teacherś data need to be aggregated, thus finding causal relationships is complex. • We find that students whose teachers focus on a few instructional practices obtain better results. Abstract This paper focuses on the potential uses and misuses that can be made with the so-called TALIS-PISA link created by the OECD. This is a recently developed instrument that allows for connecting data about teachers collected in TALIS with studentś data available in PISA. However, the statistical and technical aspects regarding this link between both surveys are far from straightforward. In this paper we explore the main problematic issues of the data fusion process and provide some guidelines for researchers interested in performing empirical analyses using the resulting dataset. Likewise, we illustrate some potential utilities of this dataset through the estimation of different models with the aim of exploring the relationships between teaching practices and student achievement in Spain. Our results indicate that students whose teachers concentrate on a few instructional practices obtain better results than those who have teachers using many different activities within the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Textbooks are a widely used educational intervention that can affect student achievement, and the marginal cost of choosing a more effective textbook is typically small. However, we know little about how textbooks get from the publisher to the classroom. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways mathematics textbook adoption practices vary and predict adoption decisions. We use interviews with district leaders in a stratified random sample of 34 California school districts. We find isomorphic, highly formalized adoption processes in most districts. However, we observe some differences along dimensions of district size, technological interest/infrastructure, and English learner concentration. We recommend states produce and update lists of high-quality materials early and often, and that they use a highly rigorous evaluation process. We also recommend states experiment with encouraging similar districts to partner on textbook evaluation and adoption to respond to district demands for information and capacity building around curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the challenges facing education systems in general and the South African education system in particular is how to understand ways that teachers change from nonusers of technologies to becoming transformative teachers with technology. Despite numerous initiatives, not limited to training, workshops and so forth, to bring about sustained and wide-spread teacher change, transmission/delivery-based pedagogies and chalk-and-talk methods continue to dominate. While policy directives and professional development programmes aim to effect change in teachers' practice, they tend to fail to create sustainable change in teachers' practice of using emerging technologies (ETs). This paper reports on a study that sought to understand how teachers change their pedagogy of teaching with ETs. Using a Design-Based Research approach, the paper reports on the teachers' pedagogical change framework (Teaching Change Frame -TCF) as a diagnostic tool for locating and mapping how teachers' change. The TCF maps teachers' existing pedagogies and ET uses, and designs a pathway of a change process to effect the desired change. The TCF was tested and refined using data from 325 teachers drawn from rural, resource-constrained schools, urban, well-resourced schools and from preservice teaching students in a decontextualized environment. Following three iterations it was found that teachers' use of ETs in regulated, restrictive ways correlate with transmission pedagogies, unregulated, dispersed ways correlate with transformative pedagogies. The use of TCF not only located teaching pedagogies but also provide different pathways to ensure sustainable change. Findings emphasize the need for teachers to encourage learners to build/create/construct with ETs and for increased interaction in fostering nonregulated dispersed use of ETs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper estimates the effect of students’ position in the classroom register on their academic performance. We use a unique dataset from Poland which contains information on the academic outcomes of students in the humanities, science and mathematics lower secondary school exams as well as the position students occupy in their classroom register. We find that students whose names are recorded near the end of the class list have lower performance than those students whose names are recorded near the beginning of the list. The effect appears to be larger for performance in the humanities exam, and for low-achieving boys who attend large classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EVIDENCE FOR THE PREDICTIVE effect of Executive Functions (EF) on school readiness and later school achievement has been noted. However, some studies show that EF activities are not sustained beyond the study period due to limited engagement by teachers and children. In light of this problem, this paper presents the pedagogical outcomes of a pilot study where teachers used 'playworlds' (Lindqvist, 1995) to embed EF into their programs. Five preschool teachers and five assistant teachers participated in the study over 10 weeks. Focus group interviews of all participants were conducted. A cultural-historical analysis showed that teachers developed motivating activities that promoted the sustainable development of EF in contexts of high child-engagement and motivation. The pedagogical features and implications for early childhood education are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high achievement of British Chinese students in the British education system is established in the official literature and has recently been subject to increased attention and comment; albeit it remains the case that few studies have asked students or their families about the factors contributing to their success. This paper revisits findings from an earlier research project that investigated the extent to which British Chinese students and their parents value education (and their rationales), their experiences of British education, and the construction of British Chinese students by their teachers. The study revealed the ‘hidden racisms’ experienced by British Chinese students, the problematisation of their perceived approaches to learning by British teachers in spite of their high attainment, and the benefits, costs, and consequences of their valuing of education. This article contextualises these prior findings within more recent discourses and debates around ‘Chinese success’, precipitated by increased policy attention to the educational attainment of different groups of students, especially from low socio-economic backgrounds. It argues that these discourses on one hand elevate Chinese successes and teaching methods (in contrast to prior narratives), but on the other they continue to exoticise and ‘Other’ the British Chinese, misrecognising educational practices common among White middle-class parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite many positive developments in South Africa (SA), the education system and educational outcome face many challenges and require further improvement. This is reflected by elevated school dropout rates and suboptimal annual pass rates in various grades (Grades 7–12). Over the years, a plethora of studies has identified methods through which academic performance/educational outcome can be improved. However, from a practical point of view it might be difficult to implement these methods in for example a classroom or school, particularly because these methods are mainly discovered upon thorough online literature searches, and therefore published methods to improve educational outcomes are not always within reach of schools or teachers. Our aim is thus to provide a review paper that contains a collation and overview of the possible methods that can be used by various education stakeholders in order to contribute to better educational outcome. Essentially, we are attempting to answer the questions, “What does decades of research tell us about possible ways in which educational outcome can be improved in SA? Can we use these methods in the classroom or school?” This review therefore demonstrates (1) demonstrates various ways education stakeholders/influencers (teachers, learners, parents, government, non-governmental organisations and school governing bodies) can contribute to improved educational outcome, and (2) provides a useful overview of these methods that can be used within or without the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK government’s White Paper on Education, The Importance of Teaching (2010), includes a proposal (Troops to Teachers) to encourage ex-service personnel to train as teachers: this paper presents a critical analysis of the discussions promoting the initiative. Firstly, it is argued that the initiative attempts a rapprochement between ‘reputation’ and ‘respectability’ (McDowell, 2003) by presenting ‘military masculinity’ as the solution to problematic ‘protest masculinity’. Secondly, the paper highlights three contradictions that emerge when the proposal is read alongside broader educational policy: teaching as a career only for high academic achievers versus teaching as appropriate for those with low levels of educational attainment; education as offering everyone the same opportunities versus practices which intentionally segment educational experience along class lines; and male teachers as the embodiment of traditional masculinity or as undermining gender stereotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper summarises our research into the relationship between pupil assessment at age 14 (Key Stage 3) and participation in age 16+ education. We question whether a systematic gap between teacher-based assessment and externally marked tests indicates assessment bias or uncertainty, either in testing procedures or through teachers' perceptions of pupils' skills. We explore whether these errors have consequences for pupils' subsequent educational attainment and participation. We find that teacher and test assessments diverge slightly along lines of pupil characteristics, especially prior achievement, clearly observable to the teacher but less so to external assessors, but this does not conform to notions of teacher stereotyping. Moreover, the divergence between the assessments at age 14 has almost no bearing on pupil qualifications or participation in education after age 16, and is unlikely to influence participation rates in higher education (HE). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author comments on the paper written by P. Black and D. William titled "Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards through Classroom Assessment." The author believes that the paper has advanced a certain kind of assessment by teachers and students in their own classroom, as one of the most effective ways to improve educational achievement.

This paper presents the Teacher Self-efficacy Scale, short version, and the School Collective Beliefs Scale adaptation and search of validities evidences process. After the semantic-cultural adaptation process, this study was composed by 380 educators from the public educational system in the state of São Paulo. The teacher self-efficacy scale, composed by 12 items, was organized into three factors. The School Collective Efficacy scale, composed by 12 items, was structured into two factors. Such adaptations, through the exploratory factor analysis yielded similar factor structure to the original scales, showed good evidence for variance explained, and internal consistency. Convergent validity was verified by the significant correlation between self-efficacy and collective efficacy. Criteria validity was verified through significant correlations between these beliefs and school performance. It is suggested to increase the sample size to confirm these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes the position that the aim of existential teaching, i.e., teaching where existential questions are addressed, consists in educating the students in light of subjective truth, where the students are 'educated' to exist on their own, i.e., independent of the teacher. The question is whether it is possible to educate in light of existence. It is, in fact impossible, as existence is a subjective matter, meaning that it must be determined individually. In this way the existential teaching appears thus: even though existence cannot be determined educationally, as it is a subjective matter, it does require some kind of education. However, the teacher cannot make use of pedagogical means that coerce the students to take responsibility for their subjective truth. A pedagogical 'expedient' is nonetheless required, which deprives of all types of constraint but still opens up for the students taking responsibility for their subjective truth. I argue that this expedient must be irony, but not all types of irony. I therefore discuss which conception of irony the existential teaching should and should not be connected with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyze class size effects on college students exploiting data from a project offering special remedial courses in mathematics and language skills to freshmen enrolled at an Italian medium-sized public university. To estimate the effects of class size, we exploit the fact that students and teachers are virtually randomly assigned to teaching classes of different sizes. From our analysis, it emerges that controlling for a number of individual characteristics, larger classes determine a significant and sizeable negative effect on student performance in mathematics. Importantly, this negative effect is significantly larger for low-ability students and negligible for high-ability ones. On the other hand, class size effects do not appear to be relevant for student achievement in language skills. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – There has been little research on the education of looked after children over the current school leaving age of 16, although the underperformance of this cohort at Key Stage 4 (age 14-16) has been the subject of considerable academic commentary. This paper aims to contribute to understanding of the ways in which looked after young people nearing the end of compulsory education can be supported and encouraged to continue in education and training. Design/methodology/approach – Interviews were undertaken with 12 designated teachers for looked after children and four virtual school heads, as part of the first stage of a three-year longitudinal study following 20 looked after children in England from years 11-13 (ages 15-18). Findings – Participants identified particular challenges in ensuring a successful educational transition for looked after young people in year 11 and expressed concern at the cumulative effect of multiple transitions at this stage on young people's lives. There appears, however, to be an increasing focus on and commitment to giving young people a "second chance" to acquire qualifications commensurate with their potential post-16. The comparative advantages and disadvantages of school and further education colleges for this cohort at Key Stage 5 are considered. Practical implications – The implications of the forthcoming extension of the school leaving age for professionals supporting looked after young people post-16 are discussed. Originality/value – The designated teacher for looked after children became a statutory role in 2009, and to date there has been little research on the role of these professionals, or the work of virtual schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All students, including those with significant cognitive disabilities, must participate in accountability testing under NCLB regulations. Each state must provide an alternate assessment for students unable to participate in general accountability testing. Carefully designed alternate assessment systems have the potential to go beyond meeting federal reporting requirements by providing meaningful information about student progress that can guide decision making at the classroom and district level. In this paper, we discuss issues related to alternate assessment, including (a) balancing standardization and individualization, (b) setting performance criteria, (c) establishing links with progress monitoring and instruction, and (d) addressing special challenges of rural school systems that must be considered in designing and implementing an alternate assessment system that can fulfill this vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We use a rich administrative dataset from North Carolina to explore questions related to the relationship between teacher characteristics and credentials on the one hand and student achievement on the other. Though the basic questions underlying this research are not new—and, indeed, have been explored in many papers over the years within the rubric of the “education production function”—the availability of data on all teachers and students in North Carolina over a 10-year period allows us to explore them in more detail than has been possible in previous studies. We conclude that a teacher''s experience, test scores and regular licensure all have positive effects on student achievement, with larger effects for math than for reading. Taken together the various teacher credentials exhibit quite large effects on math achievement, whether compared to the effects of changes in class size or to the socio-economic characteristics of students. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper reports research into the effect on 11-year-old pupils of introducing more cognitively challenging, practical, and interactive science lessons. Our hypothesis was that such lessons would increase the children's enthusiasm for science and their engagement with the scientific process, thereby improving educational performance. Schools in England are under pressure to raise achievement, as measured by the results of national tests. This has an impact on teaching, where revision of subject knowledge often dominates and can be particularly detrimental to more able pupils. The research was a controlled trial which took place in thirty-two English primary schools as part of a project "Conceptual Challenge in Primary Science". Teachers from 16 intervention schools participated in continuing professional development (CPD) and developed science lessons that had more practical work, more discussion, more thinking and less (but more focused) writing. The proportion of pupils achieving the highest level (level 5) in the national science tests at age 11 was compared in the matched-school pairs before and after the intervention. Focus group interviews were also held with a group of pupils in each intervention school. There was a 10% (95% Confidence Interval 2-17%) increase in the proportion of children achieving the top score in the intervention schools. The pupils and teachers reported greater engagement and motivation. These findings suggest that moving from rote revision to cognitively challenging, interactive science could help improve science education. They merit replication in other international settings to test their generalisability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on research into how effective non-statutory guidance has been in managing the primary science curriculum in England. A small-scale qualitative study was used to elicit the views of teachers, local education authority advisors, an Ofsted inspector and a policy-maker. The findings indicate that the guidance is influencing the management of primary science teaching at both national and local level. The use of this guidance has been supported nationally and individual schools have found it supportive. The effect of this policy on pupil learning has still to be investigated by further classroom observational studies. It is also hypothesised that the long-term effect of this guidance could be stagnation and a lack of creativity and this needs further study. Has this guidance reached the end of its useful life? Does it need replacing or are primary science teachers now in a position of not needing such support? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editor's note This historical paper is an introduction to curriculum thinking in Japan. It discusses contested value frameworks that have exercised professional educators in the light of two 'Western' interventions: the modernization initiatives of the Meiji government of the nineteenth century and the policies that followed Japan's defeat in the Second World War. Overall, it reports on conflicts between valued-based and knowledge-based views of curriculum content that still prevail in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principles of many international language teacher education programmes are grounded in a relatively homogenous set of 'Western' cultural values, even though their participants come from a wide range of different cultural backgrounds. This paper addresses some of the issues surrounding the role of culture in language teacher education and discusses the ways in which cultural phenomena are defined and recognised on such programmes. It argues that language teacher education should acknowledge difference on the part of both language teacher educators and participants on language education programmes. Above all, it argues that language teachers need to develop the competence to function in a range of cultural contexts and to be critically aware of the relationship between culture, context and pedagogic practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although many studies have examined techniques used to evaluate faculty performance, the literature has generally provided mixed results regarding the proper ways to measure teaching effectiveness. This paper provides the results of a survey of 1300 administrators and faculty of AACSB International accredited institutions. Respondents were asked what they believe is currently being used, and what should be used, to evaluate overall faculty performance and teaching effectiveness. Differences in responses are evaluated across school types, respondent positions, and respondent years of experience. The findings of this study provide a 'benchmark' of measures administrators can use to evaluate faculty performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social justice matters in education and it matters most when students struggle to complete and succeed at school. The central role of teachers' pedagogical practice in this process is well established, but what is less clear is how to support the kind of professional learning that contributes to students' success at school - the pedagogy of disrupting the default modes of schooling. This paper describes some existing structures in four schools working under challenging circumstances and how these structures function in ways to support different kinds of learning. Initiating and sustaining change requires fundamental disruptions to these modes of operation. In order for teachers to do new things, they need to be able to learn new things, but the difficulty is ensuring that teachers learn the kinds of practices and develop the kinds of beliefs that support students' success at school. We draw insights from our research into how this may be understood and achieved, and relate our findings to attempts to bridge the gap between the literature on learning organization and that of organizational learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment theorists and academics alike espouse the importance of feedback on performance assessment tasks for supporting improvement and progress in student learning achievement. Despite these espoused ideals, students claim a lack of adequate, timely feedback and their teachers claim that students fail to heed the advice given. This paper reports observations of experienced academics’ thinking while they assess their students’ learning products. It focuses in particular academics’ written feedback on their students’ written assignments, and compares this ‘actual practice’ with the same academics’ personal practical ‘espoused theories and practice’ about feedback. This snapshot of ‘everyday’ academic practice is considered in the theoretical context of what constitutes feedback that promotes learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I discuss how making Qallunaat teacher voices inclusive within the policy‐making process of Inuit education in Nunavik can significantly help Inuit youth to be more successful in their education and to adapt better to modern Northern community living. The study being discussed is a year‐long Participatory Action Research (PAR) project that I have been engaging in with Qallunaat teachers working in Inuit communities of Nunavik. Through this project, the aim has been to explore the perceptions of Qallunaat teachers to see how one might better prepare and support them in their efforts to teach their Inuit students. This study has direct implications for policy regarding pre‐service and in‐service training of Qallunaat teachers both at the School Board, Quebec Ministry of Education and the McGill Faculty of Education. While this study is still in progress, implementation of certain pre‐service and in‐service support practices are already underway. Drawing from Battiste, Friedman and Bakhtin, I prioritize a dialogical post‐colonial framework to situate Qallunaat teacher voices in the educational contexts of Nunavik. I use PhotoVoice to illustrate teachers’ perceptions and their social distancing with members of the Inuit community. The photographs and comments from teachers demonstrate how there is a place for Qallunaat teachers to continue their work in Nunavik as partners towards Inuit self‐determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The argument that instructors with marketable skills are likely to exit the teaching profession leads many to believe that public schools are populated by teachers of mediocre talent. Yet, teachers with skills attractive to non-education employment may not be the best individuals in the classroom. A two-stage regression technique first estimates a teacher''s impact on their students conditional upon prior academic achievement and then uses this quality measure to explain teacher attrition. This paper finds that higher-quality female teachers are less likely to leave the profession. Teacher quality does not impact attrition of male teachers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Students involved in holistic technological practice need to develop an understanding of technological practice outside the classroom and to participate in tasks set as close as practicable to actual technological practice. This paper investigates the context of assessment and its relationship to achievement and the importance of teacher knowledge to student technological practice. I argue that ‘out of context’ assessment tasks do not give an accurate indication of achievement levels of the children assessed. Introduced is the Model of Student Technological Practice, which identifies four constraints that influence student technological practice. A significant factor is teacher knowledge, as it impacts greatly on the quality of feedback given to students by their teachers. Timely teacher intervention and formative assessment feedback will alter student technological practice and should improve the students’ likelihood of developing successful outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Such questions require educators to rethink the literacy assessment practices of the past. Teachers need to collect a range of information in order to make informed, consistent and on-balanced judgements regarding students' literacy achievements. The use of one-off, single testing instruments is not appropriate. Building a portfolio (Fehring, 2003; Fehring & Wilson, 1996) of students' work from a range of multimodal and multidimensional assessment techniques provides the rich data from which teachers and students themselves can build up a profile of a learner's literacy competence. This paper will explore a range of innovative literacy assessment data gathering techniques such as: • Personalised literacy assessment matrices • Rubrics • Digital accumulative literacy assessment portfolios • Online assessment. However, it is still important to keep in mind that all literacy assessment strategies highlight the importance of teacher judgement as being fundamental to efficient and effective literacy assessment and reporting practices in the classroom. Professionally informed teachers who are articulate, knowledgeable and reflective practitioners are the change agents of the future (Fehring, 2003; Fehring, 1999). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the government's initiative to change the teaching of literacy in primary schools in England. It draws on evidence from a one-year ESRC-funded project that observed teaching in the first year of the NLS and a two-year follow-up study that revisited and re-interviewed several of the teachers from the original study. It proposes that, although substantial changes have been made to the organisation and procedures of literacy teaching, deeper pedagogical change is less obvious in some classrooms. It further argues that for teachers to have the freedom to develop their pedagogy, the climate of coercion and outcome-led education must change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]