If you could find 25 hours of professional development time per teacher, what use of those hours would have the biggest impact on student achievement? In this session for AISACT member schools, Professor Dylan Wiliam makes the case that nothing comes close to classroom formative assessment — and shows what it takes to embed it across a school.
Hosted in association with the Association of Independent Schools of the ACT (AISACT), the webinar explores checking for understanding every 6 to 10 minutes rather than every 6 to 10 weeks, why feedback should improve the learner rather than the work, and why so much professional learning fails to change classroom practice — habit change, not knowledge, is the real barrier.
The session closes with AISACT Executive Director Tracey Taylor introducing the 2027 Formative Assessment Innovator Programme: a part-funded opportunity for a small group of AISACT member schools to embed these practices with Nurture next year.
Who it is for
This session is designed for leaders and educators in independent schools in the ACT, including:
- Principals, directors and senior leaders
- Directors of teaching and learning
- Assessment and curriculum leads
- Heads of faculty considering a team-level pilot
What the webinar covers
- Why formative assessment should be the priority: the opportunity-cost argument for professional learning time, and the trial evidence behind formative assessment’s outsized impact on student achievement
- Checking for understanding: designing hinge questions and check-in points so teaching becomes contingent on what students actually understood, with no opt-out for any student
- Feedback that improves the learner, not the work: why confidence, withheld grades and structured student reflection make feedback land, illustrated with real student stories from Australian classrooms
- Why professional learning so often fails: teacher expertise as habit rather than knowledge, and how the right structures and nudges make new practice stick
- The AISACT partnership: how the association is part-funding pilots for member schools in the 2027 academic year
Speakers
Professor Dylan Wiliam
Emeritus Professor of Educational Assessment at University College London, Dylan Wiliam is one of the world’s leading authorities on formative assessment. His research focuses on supporting teachers to develop their use of assessment in support of learning.
Tracey Taylor
Executive Director of the Association of Independent Schools of the ACT, Tracey Taylor leads AISACT’s support for its member schools and the association’s decision to part-fund the Innovator Programme pilots for 2027.
David Neville
CEO and Co-Founder of Nurture, David Neville helps schools and school organisations implement evidence-based assessment and feedback practices at scale using Microsoft and Nurture technology.
The 2027 Innovator Programme
AISACT has partnered with Nurture to offer member schools a place on the Formative Assessment Innovator Programme for the 2027 academic year, with AISACT part-funding the pilots through its Choice and Affordability Fund.
- Limited places: the first cohort is capped at five schools
- Sized to your school: it doesn’t have to be whole-school; a faculty, a year level or a small group of teachers working collaboratively is an ideal starting point
- Pedagogy first: the programme pairs the Nurture platform with self-paced professional development courses covering five key formative assessment strategies, worked on together in subject departments
- Supported from the start: expressions of interest are open now, with in-person school sessions planned for the final week of term 3 and programme onboarding and planning from early term 4, ready for a 2027 start
Express interest in the Innovator Programme
Expressions of interest are open to any role — you don’t need to be a principal to put your school’s name forward.
Key takeaways
- Why classroom formative assessment is the highest-impact use of limited professional learning time
- Practical ways to check for understanding in the flow of a lesson — and act on what you find
- How to build a classroom culture where every student engages with feedback and uses it to improve
- What the AISACT-funded Innovator Programme involves and how to express interest for 2027
On-demand webinar
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Take this further in 2027
AISACT is part-funding a small group of member schools to run the Formative Assessment Innovator Programme in the 2027 academic year. Places are limited to five schools.