The importance of 'assessment for learning'(AfL) has been widely recognised, both at a policy level and in teachers' classroom practices. However recent findings from the Learning How to Learn project in the UK show that AfL is often seen as little more than a set of classroom techniques applied with limited understanding of the learning principles behind them. Where these principles are better understood, teachers have adapted classroom AfL practices more creatively to reflect them. The distinction will be drawn between the 'spirit' and the 'letter' of AfL with reference to practices such as sharing learning intentions, questionning, peer and self assessment and feedback. For example, 'learning intentions' can easily become a mechanistic process with little or no negotiation about what they mean. They may also become so detailed that they become little more than what Harry Torrance has called 'criteria compliance'. What are more creative ways of introducing learning intentions? The paper then discusses the direction that AfL should be moving in if it is to stay creative. What will second generation AfL practices look like?
A second theme will be the impact of AfL becoming a policy initiative, as it has in a range of countries. How can such moves encourage a creative approach? The paper looks at different responses within the countries of the UK.