Thank you for contacting me about primary assessment.
Let me first say that I very much admire the work you do as a teacher to ensure the next generation fulfil their potential. The Government's reforms are designed to ensure that every single young person receives an education that allows them to fulfil their potential and sets them up to succeed in adult life. In primary school this means ensuring that they master the basics of maths, reading and writing so that they aren't left playing catch up at secondary school.
This year sees the first administration of new tests for the end of key stages 1 and 2 to align with the new national curriculum. These were announced in March 2014, with sample questions provided in summer 2014 and a full sample of tests was provided in June 2015, giving schools a year to prepare. The content and structure of the tests has not and will not be changed since then.
As these are new tests, I understand that the Government cannot set the expected standard that will be used to hold schools to account for their pupils' performance until after they have been administered; however, this does not - and should not - affect schools' ability to prepare for the test, because each child should be supported to achieve to the best of their ability rather than aiming for an arbitrary borderline, and the focus should be on teaching the new national curriculum.
I appreciate that this amount of change is not insignificant but it demonstrates the Government's commitment to driving improved standards in primary education. I am confident that schools have had adequate time to prepare for these and that it must be right that we have the highest expectations for every child. Where schools are failing to meet these expectations parents rightly expect them to be held to account, because ultimately if young people fail to master the basics at this crucial stage of their education, they end up being held back for the rest of their life.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
