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Curriculum, assessment and qualifications

 
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NAHT is working to ensure that the curriculum supports the learning, progress and success of all pupils. NAHT supports the principle that a broad and balanced curriculum promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils and prepares pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.

NAHT is campaigning to: 

Support schools to provide a broad and balanced curriculum for their pupils

  • Challenge the government policy, including EBacc, which may narrow the curriculum
  • Enable and support schools to successfully deliver statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education
  • Lobby for improvements to government policy which supports schools to deliver inclusive education and fulfil their responsibilities under the public sector equality duty
  • Support schools to deliver effective careers education for all pupils
  • Support schools to deliver high-quality Religious Education to all pupils
  • Provide guidance, materials and information to support schools in educating pupils about environmental issues.

Ensure a valid and proportionate approach to statutory assessment in primary schools

  • Lobby the government to reconsider the introduction of the multiplication tables check
  • Lobby the government to ensure changes to the Early Years Foundation Stage and Early Learning Goals are appropriate and relevant for the early years sector
  • Influence the development and implementation of the reception baseline assessment
  • Support members to implement the new statutory assessment for pupils with SEND
  • Identify and challenge the STA over any impact on members of the contract change to deliver statutory assessment in the primary phase
  • Engage with the STA to influence changes and improvements to statutory assessment including moderation and maladministration
  • Campaign for KS2 SPAG to be made non-statutory and oppose any additional statutory testing in the primary phase
 

Ensure the KS4 and KS5 qualification framework and examination system is fit for purpose

  • Press the government, Ofqual and exam boards to ensure that reformed qualifications, both academic and vocational, meet the needs of all pupils and schools
  • Explore the issue of grade reliability, identifying solutions and improvements which are supported by members and pressing the government and Ofqual for appropriate action
  • Inform members of the latest developments in secondary assessment through engagement with Ofqual, JCQ and awarding organisations. 

Analysis: key stage two assessment results in England, 2017 (revised data)

Analysis: key stage two assessment results in England, 2017 (revised data)

 

​The Department for Education (DfE) has published revised data about attainment in the 2017 key stage 2 national curriculum assessment results for pupils in schools in England. There has been little change in the figures from the provisional data release in August but there has been additional data released on pupil characteristics. The full statistical release can be found here and the updated technical guidance can be found here.

Summary of key findings

Attainment and progress by pupil characteristics

Free School Meals (FSM)

  • 43% of FSM pupils achieve the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, compared to 64% of all other pupils (a difference of 22 percentage points).
  • The attainment gap between FSM pupils and all other pupils has increased by one percentage point compared to 2016.

Disadvantaged Pupils

  • In 2017, 48% of disadvantaged pupils reached the expected standard in all of reading, writing and mathematics compared to 67% of all other pupils, a difference of 20 percentage points.
  • The gap in attainment at the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics has decreased slightly from 21 percentage points in 2016 to 20 percentage points in 2017.
  • However, the gap at the higher standard between disadvantaged pupils and all other pupils had increased from 5 percentage points in 2016 to 7 percentage points in 2017.

Special Educational Needs (SEN)

  • Of all reported characteristics, pupils with SEN have the largest attainment gap when compared to those without any identified SEN.
  • In 2017, 18% of pupils with SEN reached the expected standard in all of reading, writing and mathematics, compared with 70% of pupils with no identified SEN.
  • This highlights an attainment gap of 52 percentage points compared with 48 percentage points in 2016.

Ethnicity

  • Attainment at the end of key stage 2 varies between different ethnic groups.
  • Chinese pupils are the highest achieving group in 2017 as in the last few years. The percentage of Chinese pupils reaching the expected standard in all of reading, writing and mathematics is 77%, 16 percentage points above the national average.
  • Pupils from a Black background are lowest attaining at 60% of pupils meeting the expected standard, just below the national average. However, attainment in this group has increased by 9 percentage points from 51% in 2016.

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

  • The attainment gap between pupils whose first language is English and those whose first language is other than English remains the same as in 2016 (4 percentage points).
  • In 2017, 58% of pupils whose first language is other than English reached the expected standard in all of reading, writing and mathematics compared with 62% of pupils whose first language is English.

The data has also been incorporated into the primary school performance tables for 2017 which show results from the key stage 2 tests (reading, grammar punctuation and spelling, mathematics), key stage 2 teacher assessments (English, reading, writing, mathematics, science) and key stage 1 to 2 pupil progress measures (reading, writing, mathematics).

First published 08 February 2018

First published 04 August 2020
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