There is no shortage of critiques of the current English C21st education system (and other countries besides). There is much evidence of the distorting and negative effects of high stakes national assessment on individual learning and on approaches to teaching and learning (Reay & Wiliam, 1999, Harlen & Deakin-Crick, 2003). This paper derives from a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council between Bedlington Community High School on one side and Newcastle University on the other, where the focus is on developing an assessment/progression framework for enquiry skills. This is the first KTP based in a state school in England. The bid stressed the need not only to raise achievement but more fundamentally to raise aspirations in a region with the lowest participation in HE in the UK. The project is funded for two years and involves a KTP associate working with teacher and student researchers/enquirers to develop more enquiry-based learning opportunities within the curriculum and a shift in learner identity through peer and self assessment. The project started with 8 teachers, two each from English, science and mathematics and one each from art and geography, but in its second year has included a further 6 teachers and the methods have been disseminated to all staff as a stepping stone towards long term curriculum change. The teachers are experimenting with an assessment framework based upon metacognitive knowledge and skills, stressing habits of mind. The involvement of the student researchers has been central to the project as they are seen as key players in the invitation to further cohorts of students to engage with the assessment framework. It is clear from the work of Cowie (2006) and Blanchard (2007) that issues around students’ conceptions of learning, assessment and whose role assessment is, can be problematic. Further, changing assessment practice and curriculum are not purely technical matters, the spirit of formative assessment implies that a whole school community thinks through some fundamental organisational issues and relationships, which affect all parties. This is a critical case study which seeks to derive theoretical and practical indications regarding how students may reconfigure their identity as learners through assessment innovation. Three questions addressed are: 1. In what ways are the identities and self theories of student changing? 2. What are the formative influences in that process? 3. What are the implications for the school of such assessment reform?

Data includes: • Interviews by an independent researcher with a sample of student researchers and a comparable number of non-researchers; • Student learning logs; • Field notes and documents; • Interview data and observations from project teachers. Drawing upon the work of Pryor & Crossouard (2007), which links divergent assessment to identity formation, the framework of analysis is derived from Basil Bernstein’s (1996) concepts of framing and classification. Classification refers to the strength of the boundaries separating categories of discourse, for example subjects such mathematics or English. Framing refers to the strength of the social rules in place in settings such as classrooms and involves a ‘pedagogic discourse’ which helps define how students see themselves as a result of their experiences. Thus the data analysis will probe the way in which classroom innovations have provided catalytic experiences, language and relationships which have helped forge new self theories and ambitions.

Student researchers have already indicated that they are thinking very differently about themselves. Most are responding to the opportunities of enquiry based learning, such as generating and pursuing questions that arise from their existing knowledge, and mastering and teaching sections of work in small groups to teach to their peers. They are using a richer language about learning and describing rapid changes in their aspirations. However as the project accelerates so the implications ripple further through the school demanding significant rethinking from the configuration of classrooms to curriculum planning. According to Archer (1988), in some contexts new ideas are consistent with the existing norms and values and are accommodated. In other contexts contradictions arise. The terms ‘morphogenesis’ and ‘morphostasis’ are used to delineate the change and lack of change contexts. We will outline the features of the project that help explain how the school is managing the stresses of change.