Why Dynamic Assessment? This blog aims to give a flavour of my DA ‘journey’ and to reflect on why is has been an important part of my practice for nearly ten years.

Reflecting back to those first impressions, and forward to where I am now, what is it about DA that has made it a frequent and consistent aspect of my practice for almost 10 years? One of the most striking elements is that I now have a language to talk about cognition that doesn’t have to involve scores, or is based on a theory of fixed abilities that has limited reliability and validity for many of the children and young people with whom I work…

As an Educational Psychologist (EP), we’re often asked to complete standardised tests on areas of children’s cognition, curriculum development, neuropsychological functioning etc. I was introduced to Dynamic Assessment (DA) when I started my doctoral training in 2009. I had been wrestling with my view of more formal standardised cognitive assessments since starting as an assistant educational psychologist and the idea of focusing on what a child is capable of achieving when given a level of mediation really appealed to me.

Dynamic assessment is based on Vygotskian principles and an important aspect of this is the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). This highlights the social aspects of learning by recognising the role of others in relation to a learning journey of a child. DA emphasises the importance of having a teaching and mediation element. By placing a learning phase within the assessment, it gives us an idea of the child’s true learning potential, what it takes by way of our mediation to help that child move forward and where the next steps of learning could be targeted.