It is also considering how to cut burdens to existing assessments on children’s readiness to start school at the end of their early education.
The plans are part of a wide-ranging consultation on proposals to reform the whole primary assessment system published by the Department for Education today.
The consultation asks for views on measuring progress from Reception to the end of primary school, as well as on how best to measure progress for infant and junior schools to ensure they also get credit for the progress they support their pupils to make.
Teaching unions have also been involved in drawing up the proposals in the 12-week consultation.
The Government says the plans are aimed at giving children the skills and knowledge they need to succeed while reducing the burden on teachers and schools.
The consultation seeks views on a number of proposals, including the best way to measure progress children make during primary school.
Education Secretary Justine Greening said, ‘The Government has reformed the primary school system to make sure children can master the basics of literacy and numeracy so they get the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in later life.
‘Now we want to build on that by developing a stable assessment system that helps children learn, while freeing up teachers to do what they do best – supporting children to fulfil their potential.”
Russell Hobby, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT said, ‘This consultation is the result of months of detailed talks with the Department for Education. We appreciate the engagement of the Secretary of State with the concerns of school leaders.
‘The government has listened to many of the principles and recommendations contained in NAHT’s independent Assessment Review Group Report. There’s more to be accomplished but we’ve made good progress from where we were a year ago.’
The consultation proposes:
Improvements to the early years foundation stage profile – consulting on how to make improvements and reduce burdens to the existing assessments on children’s readiness to start school at the end of their early education.
Bringing forward the starting point for school progress measures during primary education – through the introduction of a new teacher-mediated assessment in reception, developed with the profession, to ensure schools are measured on how they support every child throughout primary school.
Reviewing the statutory status of KS1 assessment – to reduce the burden of statutory assessment for teachers and pupils, the government will consult on making assessments at the end of Key stage 1 - both teacher assessment frameworks and national curriculum tests - in English reading, English writing, mathematics and science non-statutory once the new assessment in reception is fully established. Under these proposals, schools will still be provided with test materials at KS1 to help them benchmark their pupils and inform parents. The Government would continue to ensure academic standards remain high by sampling from schools that administered the tests.
Reducing the burdens of teacher assessment – reducing the burdens on teachers by removing the requirement to submit teacher assessments where the assessment is not used in the accountability of schools. The Government is also considering whether there should be greater flexibility for teachers to use their judgement to assess pupils’ ability in writing.
The Government has also launched a parallel consultation on the recommendations of the independent Rochford Review, to look at how the school assessment system successfully tracks the progress of children who work below the standard of the national curriculum tests. The group includes children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), some from disadvantaged backgrounds and some that have English as an additional language.
Commenting on the consultation, Jan Dubiel, national director of Early Excellence said, ‘We are pleased to see the Government launch this consultation on primary assessment.
‘Early years is vital to boosting life chances, and this is why it is important that we have a good understanding of a child’s learning and development on entry to primary school. This information is crucial for ensuring accountability and measuring the impact of early education on a child’s attainment through the school system.
‘We agree that this information must be fair and accurate, as well as ambitious and supportive to teachers to help every child reaches their full potential. This is why we strongly believe that a practitioner-led observation-based approach which takes into account the nature of children in Reception Year is the best way to provide a settled and sustainable approach to on entry assessment.
‘We know from our work supporting over 70 per cent of schools to carry out baseline assessments that we must measure the factors that most strongly influence successful learning, and that we must record this in a way that allows us to accurately summarise a child’s attainment.
‘A formal test-based approach, such as using a tablet or pre-set questions, is unlikely to produce the information we need to truly understand the learning and development of children at this young age, and therefore unable to allow schools to be accountable.
‘It is important to be aware that this will be an accountability measure for Primary schools and that the principles of effective assessment for children aged birth to five remain clearly defined in the statutory EYFS framework.
‘This is why we look forward to using our experience of working with over 12,500 schools across the country to respond to this consultation and help ensure the Government develops an approach to primary assessment that promotes the life chances of every child.’
Beatrice Merrick, chief executive of Early Education, said, 'We welcome the proposal to keep the EYFSP. While a review of its workload implications may be welcome, we would wish to see government address the arbitrary benchmark of the "good level of development" which is not based on any empirical data about developmental progress, and which is then used inappropriately in claims about children's so-called school readiness.'
- Download the consultation here https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/primary-assessment-in-england