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Seven-Year-Olds (Assessment)

Volume 195: debated on Tuesday 23 July 1991

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9.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will meet representative teachers of seven-year-olds to discuss appropriate assessment procedures.

My right hon. and learned Friend and I have met a considerable number of teachers of seven-year-olds as part of our evaluation of the recent assessments, and we will continue to do so.

My meetings with teachers have confirmed my belief that externally designed standardised tests are a key tool for assessing pupils. In settling the design of tests for next year, we will take firm steps to keep them within manageable limits.

May I say that that is welcomed by every teacher of seven-year-olds and also by parents who want the benefits of testing and reports without putting too much extra load on teachers who are doing a better job year by year?

I agree with my hon. Friend. The tests this year were difficult to manage in the classroom. However, a number of those tests were welcomed by both pupils and teachers. There is no doubt that they revealed a considerable amount about pupils which had not been available to teachers using teacher assessment. It is a mixed result, but the big problem has been manageability within the classroom.

What responsibility do Ministers take for the fiasco to which testing at seven has been reduced, as a result of constant experimentation and change over the past four years? Does the Minister think that credibility in testing would be enhanced if some serving teachers were put on the School Examinations and Assessment Council, rather than turning the council into a branch of the Conservative party by appointing a right-wing ideologue, Lord Griffiths, as its chairman?

No, they have not been a fiasco. I am surprised that the hon. Gentleman jumps to conclusions about the results of the test without waiting for the full evaluation from Her Majesty's inspectorate and from SEAC. I do not think that that is a responsible attitude for the hon. Gentleman to take. He must be as interested as we are in ensuring that there is a proper testing regime within schools and that that testing regime responds to the need of teachers and is fair to pupils.

The hon. Gentleman's comments about Lord Griffiths are beneath contempt.