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The Education and Skills Select Committee this week (December 3, 2007) announced that it is to resume its inquiry into the current testing regime, and will continue to take oral evidence in this area.
In response, Chief Executive Keith Bartley says:
"The GTC looks forward to working with the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee and congratulates Barry Sheerman MP on his appointment as Chair. In particular, we welcome the continuing inquiry into assessment and the reprised gathering of oral evidence. There is considerable support throughout the education system for a thorough re-evaluation of the current testing regime. To improve pupil achievement we need to move towards more valid forms of assessment that support teachers in raising standards. Clear accountability for teachers and schools can be achieved through a system of sample testing, measuring improvements over time. Tests in themselves do not raise achievement."
The GTC submitted advice to the Education and Skills Select Committee in June this year, calling for the current testing regime to be overhauled. In its advice, the GTC proposed that Key Stage tests should be replaced with a nationally devised bank of tests to be used when the teacher judges that pupils are ready to take them. This would lead to an increased investment in teachers' assessment skills, with Government trusting teachers' professional judgment to assess pupils' progress.
The GTC also wants to see an increased focus on assessment for learning, with teachers developing and using assessment and moderation methods which would lead to a richer and better informed dialogue between the school and parents. This would enable parents to be kept fully and regularly informed about their child's progress and attainment. Finally, the GTC has proposed that a system of cohort sampling could be introduced to monitor standards. Instead of testing all pupils, just a limited number of pupils in a limited number of schools would be tested, in order to collect data about national standards.
For further information about the Education and Skills Select Committee, visit the website at http://www.parliament.uk/edskills/
