• formative assessment can only be fully understood if the social, cultural and political
contexts in the classroom are taken into account
• the practices of formative assessment reflect the values, culture of the classroom, and in
particular, those of the teacher
• formative assessment is a social practice, constructed within social and cultural norms
of the classroom
• what is assessed is what is socially and culturally valued
the cultural and social knowledge of the teacher and students mediate their responses to
assessment
• formative assessments are value-laden and socially constructed (Bell and Cowie 2001a,
pp. 128–129).