Standardised testing
Phonics test
The government introduced a phonics screening test in 2012 for all year 1 pupils including those in academies and free schools. The idea of the test is to check the children’s phonetic knowledge by giving them a list of real and fake words and asking them to sound the words out. It consists of a list of 40 words that children should be able to decode by the end of year 1 if phonics has been taught to a high standard.
One of the biggest issues is that some children will not read the ‘fake’ words as they do not make sense. Many teachers see this as a pass because the children are able to identify they are not real words just by looking but cannot pass the children as they have not sounded the words out loud. This can be stressful for some children as ‘many children expect that what they read will make sense, so giving them alien words out of context removes the purpose of reading, which is to understand words on a page’ (Jackson, 2012:1). If children do not pass the test in year 1 then they are required to retake the test in year two, which can make the child feel inadequate or feel they lack knowledge in a crucial area.
The government introduced a phonics screening test in 2012 for all year 1 pupils including those in academies and free schools. The idea of the test is to check the children’s phonetic knowledge by giving them a list of real and fake words and asking them to sound the words out. It consists of a list of 40 words that children should be able to decode by the end of year 1 if phonics has been taught to a high standard.
One of the biggest issues is that some children will not read the ‘fake’ words as they do not make sense. Many teachers see this as a pass because the children are able to identify they are not real words just by looking but cannot pass the children as they have not sounded the words out loud. This can be stressful for some children as ‘many children expect that what they read will make sense, so giving them alien words out of context removes the purpose of reading, which is to understand words on a page’ (Jackson, 2012:1). If children do not pass the test in year 1 then they are required to retake the test in year two, which can make the child feel inadequate or feel they lack knowledge in a crucial area.
This is an example of some words that may come up on the phonics test. As you can see there are real words and fake which the children have to decode.
End of Key Stage 1 assessment (SATs)
Every school is required to carry out an assessment on children at the end
of Key Stage 1 in Maths, English and Science. One of the benefits of this type
of assessment is that it is not just based on their performance on the day as
long as ‘an appropriate range of evidence from work completed in class’ is
presented as well to determine children’s levels (DfE, 2013:12). This means
there is less pressure on children to perform well in the assessment as their
level is not solely determined by a small snapshot of the child’s ability. It
also puts less pressure on teachers to ‘teach to the test’ and to only teach
things that may appear on the assessment.
Year 6 SATs
At the end of year 6, children are required to take part in an assessment more commonly known as the Year 6 SATs. Haylock (2001, cited in Cockburn, 2003:131) states the main purpose of the national curriculum tests is ‘to determine the‘test’ level for each pupil.’ Children are now required to complete tests in English: reading, grammar, punctuation and spelling and mathematics. The government introduced a new test for grammar and spelling ‘to make sure all children leave primary school with a sound grasp of essential English skills’(Livingstone, 2013:1) However, as these tests are administered towards the end of the year it gives very little time for the children to improve on areas of spelling and grammar they are having difficulty
with. This can then put a lot of pressure on teachers to reteach certain areas
of grammar and spelling in a very short space of time and pressure on children
to relearn or learn these aspects of grammar.
Every school is required to carry out an assessment on children at the end
of Key Stage 1 in Maths, English and Science. One of the benefits of this type
of assessment is that it is not just based on their performance on the day as
long as ‘an appropriate range of evidence from work completed in class’ is
presented as well to determine children’s levels (DfE, 2013:12). This means
there is less pressure on children to perform well in the assessment as their
level is not solely determined by a small snapshot of the child’s ability. It
also puts less pressure on teachers to ‘teach to the test’ and to only teach
things that may appear on the assessment.
Year 6 SATs
At the end of year 6, children are required to take part in an assessment more commonly known as the Year 6 SATs. Haylock (2001, cited in Cockburn, 2003:131) states the main purpose of the national curriculum tests is ‘to determine the‘test’ level for each pupil.’ Children are now required to complete tests in English: reading, grammar, punctuation and spelling and mathematics. The government introduced a new test for grammar and spelling ‘to make sure all children leave primary school with a sound grasp of essential English skills’(Livingstone, 2013:1) However, as these tests are administered towards the end of the year it gives very little time for the children to improve on areas of spelling and grammar they are having difficulty
with. This can then put a lot of pressure on teachers to reteach certain areas
of grammar and spelling in a very short space of time and pressure on children
to relearn or learn these aspects of grammar.