December 2019

On 15th October 2018, the DfE announced the modification of KS1 teacher assessment frameworks.

Teacher assessment frameworks

• English Reading, mathematics and science frameworks have been modified for use from the 2018/2019 academic year onwards.
• English writing frameworks will remain the same as those introduced for the 2017/2018 academic year.
• The 'pupil can' statements have been refined for clarity to ensure they represent the key aspects of the national curriculum and reflect classroom practice.

On 15th October 2018, the DfE announced the removal of KS2 teacher assessment judgements for English reading and mathematics and revised science teacher assessment frameworks.

Removal of teacher assessment for English reading and mathematics

The DfE state that this change has been made in response to the public consultation on Primary Assessment in 2017, and aims to reduce assessment burdens on schools. Test results in English reading and mathematics will continue to be used in school performance measures.

I believe that proper assessment would reveal that these children have a range of social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) problems that are the real cause of their misbehaviours.

Thanks to Rob Long, educational psychologist and author of SNAP-B, for the following article.

Recently I attended a meeting on school exclusions where clear evidence was presented which highlighted there are certain ‘at risk’ groups that are more likely to be excluded. For me this reinforced the article I had read by J O’Brian in which he suggested that there is a systemic bias in the education system against certain ethnic groups.

With this thought in mind I began to wonder if there is a similar bias to explain why children and young people with special educational needs and disability (SEND) or Educational Health and Care Plan (EHCP) statements are also a vulnerable group to being excluded as the data suggests that they are higher than other non-disabled groups on exclusions.