National assessments for Scotland’s youngest pupils are to continue this school year.
Despite a parliamentary vote in September to “halt” P1 Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSAs), education secretary and deputy first minister John Swinney has said that they will continue for now.
Instead, Mr Swinney said he would respect the will of the Scottish Parliament by ordering an independent review of P1 SNSAs.
It is due to report back in May 2019, and P1 SNSAs will continue in the meantime.
Mr Swinney said: “I have listened to a range of views from within the profession and those charged with delivering education. Indeed [education directors’ body] ADES have confirmed that no directors of education have raised any significant concerns by parents.
“It is important to further evaluate how the assessments are working which is why I have decided to commission an independent review of P1 assessments to reconsider the evidence.”
He added: “While an independent, evidence-based review could conclude that P1 assessment should be reformed, the review could also recommend a halt to the assessments.”
Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith questioned “exactly what evidence convinced [Mr Swinney] that four and five-year-olds in Scotland needed to be tested in the way that he proposed, when many high-performing education systems do not consider such tests to be necessary or educationally beneficial”.
Scottish Labour education spokesman Iain Gray accused Mr Swinney of “defying” the wishes of Parliament, while Scottish Greens education spokesman Ross Greer said: “What right does the deputy first minister think that he has to pick and choose when he respects the will of Parliament?”
EIS union general secretary Larry Flanagan said: “EIS members have serious reservations over the educational value of SNSAs at all stages, but particularly in relation to testing of 4 and 5 year old children. We are disappointed therefore, that a delay has been engineered around a decision to end compulsory P1 assessments.”
He added: “We accept, however, that in establishing an independent review, the deputy first minister is open to evidence about the efficacy of the SNSAs, although we would make the point that perhaps a review of the evidence before the introduction of the tests would have been more appropriate.”
