Best Practice

Assessment consultation – is it too little, too late?

SATs Performance tables Government policy
The year 2016 perhaps marked the worst year in primary national assessment history. Now the DfE has launched its promised consultation to find out what the way forward for primary assessment might be. But is it asking the right questions and has too much been decided already?

Primary assessment in 2016 has been described as chaotic and shambolic by unions and even the education secretary, Justine Greening, has acknowledged that “the pace and scale of these changes has been stretching”.

It was with relief that schools heard the announcement that no new national tests or assessments would be introduced before 2018/19 and that a consultation on assessment arrangements was to follow early in 2017.

The Primary Assessment in England consultation has now been published and by reading the 30-page document primary schools will have a good indication of what the Department for Education (DfE) has in mind.

The early reaction has seen positive publicity surrounding the suggestion that key stage 1 SATs might be removed as a statutory requirement and that there could be a “best fit” rather than a “secure fit” for attainment in writing. Teachers have also responded positively to the prospect of removing teacher assessment in English reading and maths at key stage 2.

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