Head teachers plan for new pupil-assessment systems...

Key Stages 1-2 and SATs advice

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Post Reply
MSC
Posts: 200
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2013 1:57 am

Head teachers plan for new pupil-assessment systems...

Post by MSC »

So what do you all think of this?!

"The government believes it was vague and too complicated for parents"


Really?! What so complicated with Levels ?! Do you all find it complicated?!!

"It has said schools will be expected to design their own systems to suit their children and parents.."


So having individual school design their own system will be less complicated and easy for parents to understand ?! How would I know my child's achievement is actually at par or above a certain national / international level ?

Head teachers plan for new pupil-assessment systems
By Angela Harrison Education correspondent, BBC News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-26176780" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Head teachers' leaders have outlined what they think schools in England should do once the national system for measuring pupils' performance is scrapped.

Head teachers' leaders have outlined what they think schools in England should do once the national system for measuring pupils' performance is scrapped.

The system, where parents are told which "level" their children are working at, ends in September.

The government believes it was vague and too complicated for parents.

It has said schools will be expected to design their own systems to suit their children and parents.

Levels are currently used by schools to grade pupils aged from five to 14.

At the age of 11, when children leave primary school, they are expected to have achieved at least a Level 4 in English, maths and science.
Flaws

The National Association of Head Teachers has published guidelines for schools, setting out principles of how they should devise their own systems for assessing what pupils can do.

It set up a commission to look at the issue.

Russell Hobby, the union's general secretary, said heads should "take ownership of assessment".

"Just because the government ceases to regulate something does not mean the profession must accept fragmentation," he said.

"We can keep what was good about our previous system of assessment and address its flaws.

"The commission has taken a great deal of evidence, thought deeply about what might work and proposed a set of principles that can ensure consistency without strait-jacketing schools."

The commission, chaired by Lord Sutherland, calls on schools to adopt a "consistent approach to assessment across the country" and keep using levels while designing a new system.

It says pupils should be judged against "objective criteria" and not be ranked against each other.

Last year, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg suggested children could be ranked against each other in a national table after tests at 11.

The government plans to change the national tests taken by 11-year-olds (known as Sats) and has been consulting on this, but this year's and next year's tests will be taken in May as normal.

The Education Secretary Michael Gove said: "The NAHT's report gives practical, helpful ideas to schools preparing for the removal of levels.

"It also encourages them to make the most of the freedom they now have to develop innovative approaches to assessment that meet the needs of pupils and give far more useful information to parents."

Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said many primary teachers were concerned about the scrapping of levels.

"There is a danger that primary staff will spend a great deal of time devising their own assessment schemes, which risks inconsistency, or spend public money buying in commercial alternatives," she said.

The Department for Education has launched a competition where schools and academies can compete for £10,000 in funding to develop new assessment systems, with the idea of their being taken up by other schools.

Officials say schools can choose to use their own systems or work with other local schools.
"The only one rehab centre that I long to be in, is the 11+ Rehab Centre" a quote by MSC :-)
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: Head teachers plan for new pupil-assessment systems...

Post by southbucks3 »

The huge level of disparity between primary school education standards will suddenly get a lot smaller on paper!

Personally I think all schools should have the exact same song sheets on the exact same day for every lesson, every test and every activity. But then I think all local councils should follow the same routine too, and all hospitals, in fact anything where public money is bring spent. Why should one town have so much better value for money than another?

Much as I hate testing primary children, there is a need for standardised benchmarks, for the teachers as much as the children. Imo anyway.
yoyo123
Posts: 8099
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Re: Head teachers plan for new pupil-assessment systems...

Post by yoyo123 »

Personally I think all schools should have the exact same song sheets on the exact same day for every lesson, every test and every activity
Not sure I agree with you, I work with some incredibly talented teachers ( on a recent audit we had 100% outstanding lessons). However, they are all different and have distinct teaching styles, we need lessons to be interesting and engaging,especially in primary. I am not class based, but I can walk about the school and children are so excited about what they are learning. We have a white board where children write about what they have learned, it's brilliant! Our children love school. If each teacher had to conform to a norm, I'm not sure that would happen.
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: Head teachers plan for new pupil-assessment systems...

Post by southbucks3 »

yoyo123 wrote:
Personally I think all schools should have the exact same song sheets on the exact same day for every lesson, every test and every activity
Not sure I agree with you, I work with some incredibly talented teachers ( on a recent audit we had 100% outstanding lessons). However, they are all different and have distinct teaching styles, we need lessons to be interesting and engaging,especially in primary. I am not class based, but I can walk about the school and children are so excited about what they are learning. We have a white board where children write about what they have learned, it's brilliant! Our children love school. If each teacher had to conform to a norm, I'm not sure that would happen.

Of course it could happen, just because you are singing the same songs does not mean that some will sing it in a way that makes you reach for the ear defenders, and some will make you sit up and listen. The best lesson plans, the best methods, the best ideas should form the basis of each lesson and be shared by every school as the master copy.

I am beginning to sound a bit communist :oops:
yoyo123
Posts: 8099
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Re: Head teachers plan for new pupil-assessment systems...

Post by yoyo123 »

I am beginning to sound a bit communist
I think you are...

I once did an inset day on differentiation, using downloadable lesson plans (some from DfES..or whatever they were at the time) and gave each teacher a pretend class..eg you have a child with autism, language disorder etc.. how could you adapt this lesson?

Upshot was, that you don't just use a lesson plan blind, each class is different and each teacher is different. I team teach with our year 6 teacher sometimes, we have similar ideas about teaching and discipline, but her style is very different from mine.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Head teachers plan for new pupil-assessment systems...

Post by mystery »

Anyone know how to find the report of the naht commission on assessing without levels?

That bbc report makes it sound as though the profession loves levels and wants to save them. Is that the case?
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: Head teachers plan for new pupil-assessment systems...

Post by Amber »

http://www.naht.org.uk/welcome/news-and ... of-levels/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It is available as a PDF at the bottom of this page.
Lillie
Posts: 231
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2011 2:34 pm

Re: Head teachers plan for new pupil-assessment systems...

Post by Lillie »

I am not a particular fan of the Levels and, as a parent, I do find them confusing. There are also contradictions in the supposed level of progress which is seen as acceptable. I have a letter from our primary school head which states that satisfactory progress would mean a child moving through two sub-levels each National Curriculum Year. Good progress requires pupils to move more than the two sub-levels (Key Stages 1 and 2). If that were the case, most primary school children by the end of Year 6 ought to attaining levels 5 or 6, if not higher!

I can see, however, that head teachers could end up reinventing the wheel with these proposals. There are widely varying standards among schools and head teachers are only human and how can you judge how one set of criteria for one school would match against another?

I also wonder what impact this might have on 11 plus reviews next year, if the whole process is being scrapped in September?
Post Reply