How to help your child acquire the skill

Ever since she could remember, every Saturday afternoon Annabelle has watched her mother making fairy cakes for tea. Now her mother suggested that since she was old enough she should try to have a go at making them herself. She was a bit reluctant at first because she was not sure whether or not she would succeed. Annabelle prepared the mixture, filled the paper cups and, in no time at all, the cakes were baking nicely in the oven.

After 15 minutes the smell told her that the cakes were done. She left them for a few more minutes, just in case, and then she took them out. Annabelle commented to her mum that the cakes looked a bit overdone and a bit too large for the paper cases. Her mum nodded and together they discussed how this could have been avoided. The following Saturday Annabelle's cakes were a definite improvement, they were a golden colour, the right size and the taste was scrumptious.

This is an excellent example of how parents can help children develop the skill of self-assessment. Perhaps the phrase self-assessment is very much associated with Income Tax, and for some of us it brings about some feelings of repugnance.

In education many are those who link self-assessment with adults and long distance learning rather than with primary or secondary school children. The reason is that some people think children are too young to acquire the skill of self-assessment, or the ability to criticise one's own work.

Another reason is that for many of us assessment is synonymous with tests and formal examinations, that is, with summative assessment generally held in the middle and at the end of the scholastic year. Few are those who think of self-assessment as a strategy in the teaching and learning process, or as a tool to help children make progress in all aspects of their development.

As parents we have to understand and believe that acquiring this skill would be of great benefit to our children. We also have to understand that self-assessment is not a skill beyond their capabilities. Unfortunately, some of us underestimate children's potential, with the result that we do not challenge them enough. This article aims to present parents with practical tips and examples of how to help our children acquire the skill of self-assessment. This is a skill which needs to feature predominantly in the new culture we are adopting for education during the 21st century.

First of all it is necessary for the child to develop the skill of observation. Pictures can be of great help in this matter, and parents can therefore make use of magazines containing pictures that our children like. The child can be presented with various pictures and asked to choose one.

Silvana is with her daughter Bella observing a picture showing children at play. Bella observes the children's clothes, the smile on their faces, the sun shining brightly in the sky and the poor boy who is crying behind the tree because, as Bella imaginatively points out, he is being left out of the game.

Encouraged to observe further, Bella realises that the picture is not showing a Maltese scene since there are mountains in the background and a fast-moving river flowing in the direction of the open sea. She wonders whether it is the Mediterranean, but she cannot say.

"It's beautiful!" exclaims Bella. "It would be great to visit a place like that." Silvana asks her daughter to observe the colours used in the picture; she is conscious of her passion for blue and orange. Bella looks at the picture more intensely and expresses her preference for the orange, which is brighter and warmer than the other colours used in the picture. She admits, however, that the colour is overused and "I don't like the blue dress of this big girl who looks like a bully."

One notices that in this example, Bella does not limit herself to what there is in the picture, but she is developing her own likes and dislikes. In other words she knows her preferences and is therefore able to criticise the picture. This is an important step towards acquiring the skill of assessing her own work, but before doing that, Bella needs to look at people's work with a critical eye.

Another step in the right direction would be asking a child to criticise a piece of writing, not his or her own, but someone else's. Tommy is presented with an English composition written by his friend Alex. He will say what he likes in the composition, but he will not criticise it because that would be extremely disloyal to his friend.

On the other hand Alex is presented with another composition written by Adrian with whom he has quarrelled over a football match. Alex does not even want to read the composition because in his opinion it is rubbish and Adrian is not his friend. In view of this it is best to start with an anonymous piece of writing.

Rose, Tania's mother, downloaded an English composition written by a 15-year-old young man from the Internet. It was a description of the town where the young man lives, with references to the 'busy' supermarket, the 'Neo-Gothic' cathedral of the town, and the recently built natural museum named after Jacques Cousteau.

Tania cannot help but admire the beautiful adjectives used to describe the old and weary homes of the less fortunate inhabitants, the modern and elegant shops stocked with appliances and gadgets of all sorts, and the few gardens left on the outskirts of the town where one could still enjoy the melodious chirping of the colourful birds and rest in the peaceful silence.

On another occasion Rose presented Tania with a rather difficult title - an argumentative composition about the abolition of fireworks during the village festa. Tania remarked on the format of the composition, its introduction, body and conclusion. She also realised how well presented were the arguments of the writer who maintained throughout, that no hard and fast decision should be taken because each case should be studied on its own merits. Tania learned that it is necessary for those involved in the manufacture of fireworks to be well trained, be in possession of a licence, and to be responsible enough not to risk their own life as well as that of others.

All the practices explained here make an excellent background for children who want to develop the skill of assessing their own work. However one has to be very careful not to move too fast. The child has to be able to distinguish between a piece of writing and its author. We are criticising or evaluating a particular composition and not a particular person. The child has to realise that we are not criticising Alex per se even though we are criticising Alex's work.

Children do not easily distinguish between the two, and it is therefore important to exercise tact when criticising a piece of work. For example, rather than saying that the child has very bad spelling, one should say that the writing had a large number of spelling mistakes. It is also essential that one concentrates not only on what can be improved but also on what deserves praise. It is perhaps a good idea to first concentrate on that which is praiseworthy, and then move on to a discussion of that which needs to be ameliorated.

Brian wanted to help his son develop the skill of self-assessment. So he encouraged his son to help him paint a door. Joseph was more than pleased and became extremely enthusiastic. The door was painted and everyone was satisfied with the work. After a few hours the paint was dry because Brian had chosen a day when the north wind was blowing. Father suggested that they have another look at the door and Joseph soon realised that the magnolia did not cover the old blue colour of the door completely.

No-one needed to persuade the boy that a second coating was necessary. It was an important lesson to Joseph, namely that a piece of work needs to be examined after a while. It could be that we want to change or improve on our first attempt. Joseph got the message and he learnt the lesson. Nowadays he doesn't say "I have finished" unless he has examined and revised a piece of work at least once, be it manual or academic.

A point one needs to remember is that most children will not acquire the skill of self-assessment automatically. So we have to intentionally try to help our children to acquire this ability rather than leave it to chance. We therefore must create circumstances conducive to helping our children acquire the skill. Another last point is that children will find it difficult to assess their work if they are not aware of the success criteria, that is, the characteristics that will make their piece of work good or otherwise.

In this example, Joseph was able to decide that the door needed another coating, only because he was aware of the success criteria, namely that when a door is painted, it is necessary for the new coating to completely cover all traces of the old paint. Regarding success criteria we have to be careful not to be too demanding. We have to learn to allow some mistakes, but on the other hand we should not adopt the attitude that everything goes.

Self-assessment is a useful skill, and once developed it will help our children improve their work. In time they will also assess their attitudes and the values they cherish. This will, in turn, help them understand that they can improve on their behaviour and become better individuals.

Mr Grech is Education Officer at the Educational Assessment Unit