Best Practice

No overhaul of primary assessment in sight

The government’s response to the primary assessment consultation was published in September. Primary headteachers are anxious for change. We look at ministers’ plans and speculate on what the new model will deliver

Following the disastrous 2016 assessment year, a consultation on assessment arrangements was the least that the Department for Education (DfE) could do. A thorough review of primary assessment was needed, but for some the assessment consultation did not go far enough.

The National Union of Teachers, just before its merger with ATL to form the National Education Union, pointed out that key stage 2 and the phonics check are just as problematic but had not been part of the discussion. The consultation, launched in March and closed in June, did not really provide the scope for the roots-up consideration of the purposes of assessment that many felt was needed.

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