NASUWT: Comments on the end of the single level test pilot
Commenting on the announcement by Minister Nick Gibb that the pilot on single level testing is being concluded, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union’ said:
“The NASUWT has supported, in principle, the trial of single level tests. These enabled teachers to exercise their professional judgement to conduct the tests on the basis of the stage a pupil had reached rather than the age of the pupil.
“The NASUWT has no objection in principle to external testing, providing that the external markers for the tests, introduced under the last Conservative Government, are retained.
“The NASUWT has argued consistently that the problem with the current system is not the tests themselves but the use to which they are put and the accountability regime in which they operate.
“The fact that the test results are used to feed performance league tables, which rank schools’ performance, drives them to teach to the tests, stifles teachers’ ability to exercise professional judgement and removes curriculum flexibility.
“The forthcoming curriculum review should underpin consideration of appropriate approaches to assessment and testing. The opportunity to review the accountability regime should not be missed.”
ENDS
Stuart Gannon
NASUWT Press Office
Tel: 020 7420 9681
Mobile (and out of hours contact): 07966 198894
Address: 5 King Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 8SD
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