A Small Scale Study: The impact of self-assessment on the attainment of children’s creative writing

This project investigated the correlation between self-assessment and the attainment of children’s creative writing throughout the primary school. It explored whether self-assessment was happening in the classroom, and whether such assessment resonated with constructivist approaches addressed in educational research. It also examined whether children’s self-assessment was in line with teacher-assessment, focusing particularly on the accuracy of children’s evaluations. Lastly, it investigated whether children’s writing had improved, with an emphasis on the quality of linguistic and structural features. Both a policy scrutiny and unstructured observation were obtained, followed by 6 participant observations and interviews with a focus group. All participants undertook a hot and cold task, which provided a comparison of writing before and after the action research was carried out. The study concluded that if children are taught how to self-assess effectively, they are able to do so with confidence. Thus, a perceived correlation between self-assessment and improved writing attainment was established. However, there seemed to be an apparent link between the design of the success criteria and the previous teaching regime involving levels, which tended to remain embedded in this teaching and learning process. Consequently, there were some discrepancies concerning children’s ability to self assess against criteria accurately, and whether such criteria benefits or hinders children of different abilities