A Scottish council has dismissed government guidance that teachers should determine when pupils sit the national literacy and numeracy tests, saying it “does not support the idea of ‘testing a pupil when they are ready’ as the tests are not designed to be used in this way”.
Inverclyde Council has told the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee that it “does not set a formal window for testing”. However, it added that it had “recommended that testing takes place between January and March”.
In response to a survey of Scottish councils conducted by the committee as part of its inquiry into the Scottish National Standardised Assessments, the council said: “The authority does not support the idea of “testing a pupil when they are ready” as the tests are not designed to be used in this way. We are also wary of individual teachers choosing to test pupils late in the academic year because this may give the best perceived results.”
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It is a stance that will doubtless anger the Scottish government, given that education secretary John Swinney has warned teachers must be free to decide when pupils sit the tests, not councils.
Last year, Mr Swinney told Tes Scotland it should be “up to teachers to decide when it is appropriate to undertake those assessments” and that he would “use every channel available” to encourage that practice.
He added: “I will raise it specifically and I will pursue it because I think it is a very legitimate issue. If we put out guidance that says it should be up to teacher judgement when it is the right time to do this that’s what should happen.”
However, information gathered by the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee suggests that at least five councils are continuing to tell teachers when the tests should be sat.
Falkirk Council stated that it conducted the SNSAs for P4, P7 and S3 pupils from September to October, having considered it more useful to have the results early in the school year. P1 pupils were tested in April to May in order to give them time to settle into school.
East Renfrewshire stated that all pupils would take the SNSAs in the six weeks directly following the April school holidays.
P1 and S3 pupils in Moray take the SNSAs in May; P4s in January and P7s in March. The council wrote that this allowed for “consistency across the authority in order to support technical and data analysis approaches as well as supporting our tracking and monitoring processes as well as a strong focus on diagnostic uses of this type of assessment”.
In West Lothian, P7 and S3 pupils took the SNSAs prior to mid-November so that schools could: “use diagnostic information to inform next steps and curriculum decisions before transition to secondary and senior phase respectively.” P1 and P4 pupils were assessed between February and May to inform pupil progress.
Nine councils said they did not set a time during which the SNSAs were being carried out; three councils said that whilst they had dictated a window last year said they would not be doing so this school year: North Ayrshire, Renfrewshire and Shetland.
The Education and Skills Committee surveyed the local authorities as part of its inquiry into the national tests. The inquiry is due to come to an end on Wednesday, when Mr Swinney appears before the committee.
Last year, the EIS teaching union found that 25 out of the 32 Scottish councils had failed to allow teachers to determine the timing of the literacy and numeracy tests.
