In ELA we encourage students to focus on ‘sustainable assessment’. Boud (2000: p. 151) recognises the need for summative assessment for certification purposes, but also calls for a greater focus on formative assessment to encourage ‘sustainable assessment’ which he links with the Brundtland definition of ‘sustainable development’ by defining it as ‘assessment that meets the needs of the present and prepares students to meet their own future learning needs’.
By encouraging students to make the processes of formative assessment their own, rather than what they are subject to, and preparing them to self assess their progress throughout their lives and seek feedback from a range of sources including their peers and other practitioners, as well as written texts, this will encourage their development as effective lifelong learners and assessors, reducing their reliance on teachers and other more formal sources of advice.
Alongside this, they also explore different methods of assessing their carbon footprints which they relate to the development of other assessment opportunities within their subject areas.
