The way that the government assesses pupils continues to be in the spotlight as the NAHT raises UK assessment mistakes.

The NAHT are relatively recent members of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and used the organisation as a platform to express their views on UK school assessment.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) favouring a motion for the government to address what it called a “chaotic and confusing system of assessing school’s academic performance.”

The union identified a number of issues around school assessments that need to be addressed in the planning and preparation of this year’s SATs. On the back of these alleged issues there have been calls for SATs data not to be published in December.

The issues raised included;

• The erroneous publication of SATs papers ahead of the test
• Delayed and difficult to interpret guidance for teachers
• Mistakes within the test papers
• A mark scheme that does not cater for those with dyslexia

The issue of leaked papers was raised in parliament after nearly 100 people accessed the national primary school spelling and grammar test after it appeared online. Schools minister Nick Gibb was forced to inform parliament of this school’s assessment error.

He went on record to describe the leaking of the papers as “clearly a mistake, which should not have been possible,”

Assessment Challenges

This issue highlights the challenge of effectively assessing, tracking and reporting the progress of pupils in a standardised way nationally.

It will be interesting to see how these assessments are developed to address perceived issues.

At SRS we have designed a reporting suite that allows schools on a range of different curriculums to assess, track and report on pupil progress.

If you would like to find out more about how we make assessment tracking simple for teachers give us a call on 020 8893 6666 

Last month the UK voted to leave the European Union following a referendum, a vote that is dominating discussions across almost every aspect of our lives and education is no exception.

The vote to leave the EU may not have had immediate impacts on the education system in the same way that the banking and finance industries. Yet a move away from EU may have longer term impacts that have yet to be fully defined.

Politics have a large impact on the education system and the referendum has led to large scale political shifts. The UK has a new Prime Minister and Education minister.

The full impact of this vote may not be known until the dust has settled and what the political and economic future of the country looks like.

The Areas Of Education Brexit May Impact

Two areas of immediate concern within education are; funding for higher education and investment in university research. Both these areas feature cooperation through the EU funding and many schemes are EU funded. The vote to leave raises uncertainty to how these will work in the future if at all.

From a teaching perspective decisions over immigration could impact staffing and pupil levels in ways that are difficult to forecast. In the last decade the system has adapted to immigration across the EU and supporting these communities.

Migration pattern changes and volumes could have an impact on demand and resourcing as well as the ability to recruit qualified teachers from across the EU. A particular concern given the importance of language learning in modern education.

So whilst the overall impacts of a potential Brexit are yet to be defined, there are many areas that educators will be watching with interest. Hopefully over time the solutions will become clear and the focus will always remain on getting the best for UK students.