Assessment:the alternative

Assessment – what we stand forEngland’s system of statutory primary assessment has been inplace for 25 years. Most teachers and most parents have knownnothing else, and it has become difficult for us to imagine adifferent way of doing things.

• Can we really do without our SATs?

• Wouldn’t standards fall if schools weren’t held to account fortheir results?

• Wouldn’t teachers slacken and pupils regress?

• What would managers and policy-makers do without theinformation that tests provide?

More Than a Score says: yes, we can manage without SATs, andthe whole battery of other assessment instruments thatdominate the life of schools.

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The current system of testing every individual childin order to judge the effectiveness of teachers andschools is deeply flawed, and has had negativeeffects.

It focuses the energies of pupils, teachers and parentson achieving success in limited aspects of a narrowrange of subjects: the school curriculum is dominatedby Maths and English, and these subjects arethemselves distorted by the need to make themtestable. When schools are judged primarily onstatutory test results, pressure and stress builds up onpupils and teachers alike: the system becomes punitive.

To leave this system behind would not be a leap in thedark. Other countries do things differently. We canlearn from them.

Across the world, and in England too, there areeducationalists who have thought deeply aboutassessment issues, and concluded that there are betterways of achieving excellent teaching and learning thanour present system allows.

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What should assessment do?• We want assessment that supports children in their learning –

and enables teachers to identify pupils’ attainment and learningneeds.

• We want assessment that treats young people in the round aswhole persons.

• We want modes of assessment that are appropriate tochildren’s development.

• We want assessment which helps to identify schools whichneed extra support.

• We want assessment that enables a dialogue between parentsand teachers.

• We want assessment that enables schools to developimprovement strategies in line with their own values.

• We want assessment that tells us about national standards ofattainment across the whole curriculum.

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What does the systemneed to look like toachieve this?

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No one test canreasonably perform allthese tasks. We needdifferent forms ofassessment fordifferent purposes.

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In the classroom, we want to see both formative and summativeassessment. Formative assessment is ongoing assessment thatsupports pupils while they are learning. It is based on observing whatchildren can do, and discussion and feedback between learner andteacher. Summative assessment tests pupils to find what they havelearned at a particular point in time – at the end of a project or unitof work, for instance. Teachers should be trusted to use theirprofessional expertise in determining the best methods ofassessment. In some countries, summative tests can be based onnational ‘question banks’. Formative and summative assessments canbe combined in an approach that is detailed, rigorous and supportive.

We want an assessment system which enables teachers indifferent schools to compare the progress made by their pupils,against national standards. This can be done by teachers comingtogether to moderate pupils’ work. The results of moderation willfeed into a school’s self-evaluation and plan for self-improvement.This in turn will be assisted by supportive inspection of schools.

Parents should be acknowledged as partners in children’slearning and need information that enables them to supporttheir children’s learning. For reports to be meaningful to parents,they need to summarise what children can do and understand.Some schools already produce rich, detailed descriptive reports onpupils’ progress, that use the outcomes of formative andsummative assessment to inform feedback to parents and pupils,and to plan learning development. Assessment in the early years,culminating in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile, offers anexample of an approach that can be used to track children’slearning throughout primary education.

We propose that national monitoring of standards shouldinvolve testing only a sample of children. When it comes to theevaluation of national standards in Primary Science, this is whatthe DfE already does! There is a need to monitor the standards ofthe primary school system. But there is no need to impose high-stakes testing of every child to provide this information. Testscould include different curriculum areas so that a picture ofstandards across the whole curriculum would become available,informing teachers’ work.

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Where would thesechanges take us?

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With changes like these, we would have an assessment systemwhich covered the whole range of children’s learning, not just asmall number of core subjects.

• It would be a system that encouraged teachers to thinkinventively about children’s learning and how to support it.

• It would avoid the negative impact of high-stakes testing onchildren’s mental health.

• It would form part of arrangements for a different kind ofaccountability, which combined school self-evaluation withways of reporting to stakeholders outside the school.

The voices of those calling for changes like these are growinglouder and more various. Most of the business world wantslearners who are well-rounded and creative. Parents areincreasingly frustrated by the way the school system worksagainst their children’s development. Even within the currentsystem, many teachers are working on practical alternatives tothe testing culture.

For too long, the needs of external testing have dominated pupils’entire experience of school. Successive governments have failedto ask a crucial question: what kinds of assessment create theconditions for young people to thrive in an uncertain andinnovation-rich world? It is time for our energies to shape aneducation system in which such a question can be answered.

Designed and published by the Communications Department of the National Union of Teachers – www.teachers.org.ukOrigination by Paragraphics – www.paragraphics.co.uk Printed by Ruskin Press – www.ruskinpress.co.uk – ????/03/17

The More Than a Score coalition calls on the Government to setup an urgent, thorough and independent review of assessmentand accountability in primary schools.