Teachers. How do you check that your pupils understood and learn what you were teaching them?

[CeciC]

I am spanish and all my schooling was in Spain, were all the schools (private or state) do exams at the end of every term. The exams are written and marked by the teachers (not outside bodies involvment) but I think is a very good way for the teachers to check that their pupils know what they are supposed to know. I thinks that from age 7 or 8 is when the exams start. As you are so used to do exams, it is not a very stresful thing, you know you will have them and you just have to study for them.
I live now in the UK, and I have two daughters age 8 and 4. But I don't know if my 8 year old understands everything that is explained to her, so I was wondering how teachers in the UK can check that their pupils understand and remember what is beign taught, not just for the moment when the teachers explains the subject, but for the future.

[Hulababy]

It is a continual process. The nature of primary teaching means that at the start of each session there is a starter activity, which will focus on prior learning, often done as a class. Then some teachign takes place,w ith work related to it. At the end of the session there is a plenary which checks, as a group, understading.

A good teacher will use these time to check the classes understanding. He/she will be able to pick up on who has and hasn't understood, and will make provisions for that in their planning for the next session.

The work set, related to the teaching, will also be used to check individual understanding of key concepts.

Lessons will build on one another, so the learning is not just based on one lessn but over a series of lessons and period of time. Key topic areas are revisited throughout the year and ver more than one year, so again, more checks here too.

Teachers keep records of what akes place.

Also generally every half term there will be some form of informal assessment. Often children won;t be aware that this is happening, if done well, but the teacher will gain excellent observations of the children through it.

Also, more formal assesments do occur - once a year, sometimes more, in many junior schools.

[CeciC]

Thanks Hulababy. You have explained very well.
My eldest sometime have homework to do that I can see, she doesn't really know what is all about, so that is the reason of my question. In theory she is doing very well, teachers are always very happy with her work, but me, more used to a different system, struggle to know what level she is at, or that her level is what would be expected from a child her age.

[Hulababy]

With homework it is important to let her try and if she is unsure get her to take it back and ask the teacher herself. That way the teacher can become aware of the fact too, and the teacher can make sure she does some more input teaching work with her, and can check understanding again.

[FlamingoCrimbo]

But exams are a really poor way of checking real learning - they favour people who are good at memorising things and honestly, how much do you really remember of things you memorised revised before exams once you've done them?

Good teachers just need to spend plenty of time with the children in their class to know that real learning has taken place.

Also, learning isn't something that is spoon-fed to children - as nice as it sounds to be able to say 'I want you to learn this, I will teach it to you, you will then know it' that's just not how it works. Exams assume that it is how it works.

Read 'How Children Learn' by John Holt if you're interested.

[Pitchounette]

Message withdrawn

[CeciC]

Sorry for not answering before now, but with snow down south, schools are close so working from home (or trying to)
Hulababy, I have never done that, but what I do, is leting her try first on her own, as I don't think is the point on me doing her homework. She does get very annoyed with me everytime I tell her that, but usually she manages to do it, and if she does it incorrect, I will not correct the homework myself, I let the teacher do it.
Pitchounette you are correct, I am not worry for not doing exams, is the lack of knowing how well or not she does. I am not interested on the rest of the class, comparing her to the rest, but I find very difficult not knowing what they do in class or what her level is.
I have tried to ask what level she was, and yes you are correct, her teachers have never been happy, and even when I ask the teacher to take her down a level in her reading books, the teacher looked at me as if I was a little bit insane. But he did and it make a real difference in her confidence in reading.
My sister is an English teacher in a primary school in Spain, and she loves the way teaching is done in England. She is against exams, but has to do them. She spent a week in a primary school near Birmigham at the begining of November, and she is planning to come and help in my DDs school for 2 weeks in July ( In spain schools break for the summer at the end of June)

[OmicronPersei8]

One thing I did as a Primary school teacher was using pupil self-assessment alongside my teacher assessment. I did this with a traffic-light system: at the end of the lesson, children drew a circle onto their work to say how well they had understood (usually in reference to a the lesson's learning objective). Red = didn't understand/couldn't do it, amber (yellow or orange) = understood a bit, need some more help with this and green = understood/could do it.

I taught Year 1 at a school that was very keen on assessment, I assessed (and kept records for) every pupil for every lesson, near enough. I assessed their learning/understanding against the lesson's learning objective, through my marking of their work, discussion with them, some formal assessments (tests), observations and the self-assessments.

Once a term I would level them against national curriculum levels in reading, writing and number. Each level was broken down into a, b and c. I'd use my ongoing assessments but also a running record for reading (recording each word they read, counting errors and reading strategies, as well as talking to them to get an idea of their understanding of the book), analysis of a writing sample for writing. I assessed how many letter sounds etc they knew if applicable.w

I left teaching and I'm a SAHM now, it was a lot of work!

[OmicronPersei8]

And I always told parents levels and targets at parents evening. The end of year report also had a list of objective for the year for each subject, against which I ticked if a child was achieving at a level that was average, above average or below average for the year group.

[CeciC]

Hi OmicronPersei8 and thanks for your input.
I also think that teaching is a lot of work, and not just doing all the prep work and marking homeworks, etc..., some times us parents and all our questions can not be easy.
I understand more what it envolves now this assessments, it just that us parents some times don't know them, and would appreciate having more information on how my DD is doing. The more I write the more I feel like a pushy parent, and that is something I don't want to be ( not a lot anyway)
Thanks everyone