University College Birmingham, as part of their Initial Teacher Education programme, has purchased Frog Progress as a tool to support the training of all students in assessment as they study for their PGCE or School Direct teaching qualification. One of their lecturers Debbie Reel, who delivers sessions on assessment told us ‘we are confident in teaching the principles of assessment, but since levels have been removed we are trying to meet the challenge of securing trainees’ understanding through practical examples’.
Frog Progress has been developed in line with the NAHT assessment principles, and is one of, if not the only product on the market that has been made for assessment and tracking without levels. As an education company, we have to be willing to adapt our product in line with changes in education and the curriculum. Frog Progress is something that can be used to shape not only the next generation, but the next generation of teachers, which is something we’re really proud of.
From working with the University we know that once they’ve taught their trainees assessment best practice, they are going out into schools that may still be using levels. To try to help with this, particularly in Birmingham, we have agreed to run a joint conference with the University to make all the surrounding schools in the area aware that all new teachers trained at the University will be learning a different set of assessment principles.
Details of this will be coming your way nearer the time, and we’ll keep you updated with how this project with University College Birmingham progresses.