don't mean that tests s the agenda for the classroom; we mean don't we plan appropriate lessons when we know what pupils are good at and what they need to do better It's worth reflecting on this simple strengths/weaknesses model People are quite uncomfortable with the weaknesses part of it and usually rename weaknesses as areas for development or some such ism. I think we are right to be wary of this simple but I don't think that the problem is solved rebranding it The problem with strengths/weaknesses as a comment model is that it's not as balanced as it looks. Weaknesses is the stronger partner. Even if the teacher is fastidious about half-and-half, the pupil is likely to remember and react to the weaknesses. The criti cisms bother us disproportionately; that's human nature. For us to feel complimented we need about 80 per cent positive feedback However, the problem goes deeper than pupil reaction and morale. Ultimately, the problem is that weakness preoccupies the teacher as well as the pupil. Consider comments at the develop mental level. The most common formula is: "You are good at A but not so good at B. We must now work on B in the following ways direction. Assessment is driving learning. But the AFL relationship doesn't have to be negative, and progression is unbalanced if it always is. How often do you see comments like this? "You are good at A, but not so good at B. We will work on B later, but for the moment we will build on the strength that you have with A The AFL relationship demands that you build on strengths as well as remedying weaknesses. The pupil works particularly well with historical sources, or has a very strong sense of how to apply algebra to real life, or is advanced in the technical analysis of poetry or the grammar of German. It matters very much to the development (not just to his morale) that these individual abilities recognised and extended in your marking and the planning that flows from it. In this way your work is strongly dif ferentiated and is likely to take pupils to new levels of sophistica move tion within areas of strength. To sum up: they need to forward in areas of strength as well as areas of weakness is in fact a wide range of assessment practice, and perhaps time to think about moving beyond 'marking'. For example, there is self-assessment. You may encourage pupils to keep logs of their own experiences in your subject, perhaps