PLACING OUR TRUST IN THE TEACHING PROFESSION | RISE.SCOT
RESPECT
THE CASE AGAINST NATIONAL STANDARDISED TESTING
INDEPENDENCE S0C
PLACING OUR TRUST IN THE TEACHING PROFESSION
IAL
ISM
ENVIR0NMENTALISM
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Executive Summary As part of the National Improvement Framework the Scottish Government has signalled its intention to introduce a “new standardised assessment” into Scotland’s schools. These tests will be conducted on an annual basis with all pupils in P1, P4, P7 and S3, and will focus on the areas of literacy and numeracy.1 Nobody doubts the sincerity of the First Minister or the Cabinet Secretary for Education when they say that they wish to address educational inequality, but serious concerns exist about the reintroduction of a system of national standardised testing (NST). This report finds that: • The introduction of NST is not supported by the international studies to which the Scottish Government refers • NST is not compatible with the principles of Curriculum for Excellence • The introduction of NST is likely to lead to a number of damaging unintended consequences for Scottish education, including reducing our ability to address educational inequality • Countries with similar NST approaches, such as Australia, have experienced significant negative effects on their education system • Attempts to address educational inequality in Scotland depend upon teachers having the time and space to employ their professional judgement in the development and implementation of assessment for learning. Trust in the teaching profession is vital.
RISE: Scotland’s Left Alliance Who We Are We are a pro-independence left-wing alliance launched in 2015. Our name stands for our principles: respect, independence, socialism, and environmentalism. The alliance aims to provide a socialist alternative to neoliberalism in Scotland.
Contact Us You can visit our website - rise.scot - for full information. Press contacts are Jonathon Shafi, who can be reached on 07983 537187, and Ken Ferguson, 07925 613145.
1. http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0048/00484452.pdf 2 | RISE.SCOT
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The Arguments Examined The Government Position The government claims that NST are necessary to reduce the “attainment gap”, the phrase commonly used to refer to the fact that children from low-income families generally have lower levels of academic educational achievement than their more advantaged counterparts: Children and young people from lower-income households in Scotland do significantly worse at all levels of the education system than those from better off homes. This gap starts early – by the age of 5 the gap in reading attainment is already 13 months – and it grows throughout primary and secondary school.2 In announcing - and later defending - this plan the government has referenced two reports from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - Synergies for Better Learning: An International Perspective on Evaluation and Assessment3 and Education Policy Outlook 2015: Making Reforms Happen.4 The government has also repeatedly assured the public that they have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders (though these remain undefined) and looked to high performing systems around the world. The reports to which the government refers are produced by the organisation behind the influential Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) ratings. The first report hinges upon six key recommendations: • Take a comprehensive approach: All the components of assessment and evaluation – student assessment, teacher appraisal, school evaluation, school leader appraisal and education system evaluation - should form a coherent whole. This will generate synergies, avoid duplication and prevent inconsistency of objectives. • Align evaluation and assessment with educational goals: Evaluation and assessment should align with the principles embedded in educational goals. • Focus on improving classroom practices: To optimise the potential of evaluation and assessment to improve what is at the heart of education – student learning – policy makers should promote the regular use of evaluation and assessment results for improvements in the classroom. • Carefully conceive the high-stakes uses of evaluation and assessment results: The use of evaluation and assessment results should avoid distortions in the education process such as teaching-to-the-test and narrowing of the curriculum. • Build consensus: Ensure that all the stakeholders are involved early and understand the benefits. 2. http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools/Raisingeducationalattainment 3. http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/synergies-for-better-learning.htm 4. http://www.oecd.org/edu/education-policy-outlook-2015-9789264225442-en.htm 3 | RISE.SCOT
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The introduction of blanket tests is a moral panic resulting from the latest Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy, with more heat than light generated by the Westminster-style point-scoring of some opposition party leaders. PROFESSOR TERRY WRIGLEY
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• Place students at the centre: Students should be fully engaged with their learning and empowered to assess their own progress. The development of critical thinking and social competencies should also be monitored. Crucially, this report does not advocate the development of a system of NST as a means of improving an education system, with the only reference to such a system highlighting the care required in the development of it and the potential dangers inherent in doing so. Unfortunately, there is little doubt that the government’s plans will, in fact, encourage precisely the sort of “teaching-to-the-test and narrowing of the curriculum” that the OECD warns of. We already have experience of this from previous versions of a National Testing system relating to the 5-14 curriculum, the failings of which were partly responsible for the National Debate on Education in 2002 and the subsequent Curriculum Review Group report in November 2004. National Testing - introduced by Michael Forsyth (the former Conservative Minister of State for Scotland) in the early 1990s - was opposed by teaching unions, local authorities and parents’ groups as being unnecessary, unhelpful and deleterious to the wellbeing of younger children - these criticisms remain accurate. In addition to this it is worth noting that other key recommendations of the report are directly at odds either with the introduction of NST or the way in which the policy has been developed. While Scotland has seen a consistent move to “focus on improving classroom practice” and “place students at the centre” of everything that we do, plans to introduce NST are likely to damage this culture by placing ever greater emphasis on the results of a small number of narrow, summative and - inevitably high-stakes tests. Arguably the most successful initiative in Scottish education in recent years has been Assessment is for Learning5 which places emphasis on the use of formative, ongoing assessment as a means of measuring the progress of individual children and providing teachers with the information necessary to recommend the appropriate “next steps” in learning - NST are an inappropriate tool for this purpose, with the data generated by such systems of being of value to politicians and government officials rather than teaching professionals. The OECD are also right to highlight the need to “build consensus” when developing education policy. Given that a range of academics, educators and “stakeholder organisations” (including teaching unions and parents groups) have actively criticised the Scottish government’s plans it is clear that this recommendation has not been met.6 Although assurances have been given that the government seeks to “engage” with both the profession and other stakeholders, it is worth noting two things: firstly, extensive, public discussions on this topic should have taken place before the announcement of a fundamental shift in education policy for Scotland, not after the decision to introduce NST had been made; second, although the NIF is currently still in draft form, it already lays out significant detail about the timing and focus of NST at each of the four stages, thus raising concern about the validity of the government’s “engagement process” and the extent to which teachers’ professional judgement will shape any system of NST.7 Of particular interest from the OECD report is the recommendation to “align evaluation and assessment with educational goals”. As part of the Curriculum for Excellence 5. Based on the work of professors Dylan Wiliam and Paul Black: http://weaeducation.typepad.co.uk/files/blackbox-1. pdf. 6. https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/2324/james-mcenaney-nicola-sturgeon-has-just-backed-the-tories-oneducation-this-is-a-disaster, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-34180388 7. http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0048/00484452.pdf 5 | RISE.SCOT
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our “educational goals” are to enable young people to become successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens - it is difficult to envisage how NST will contribute to meeting those goals. Finally, it is especially striking that the Education Scotland website, in summarising this particular report as part of its “Research and International Perspectives” information on the role of assessment, highlights the importance of teacher led assessment rather than a standardised model: Placing a strong emphasis on teacher-based assessment has many advantages: it allows for competencies to be measured that are difficult to capture in a standardised assessment, it is embedded in regular coursework and more authentic than a test-based examination and it has greater potential to be used for subsequent improvements in teaching and learning.8 The second OECD report to which the government refers offers an overview of a range of policies utilised in different countries along with advice on successful strategies for the implementation of educational reforms. To be introduced successfully, innovations in the learning environment must concretely address specific teaching and learning issues. And to improve the quality of education that schools provide, policies must focus on changing classroom practices, balancing external pressure and support, and developing and pursuing long-term objectives.More generally, the analysis of selected reforms shows that the most effective policies are those that are designed around students and learning, build teachers’ capacity and engage all stakeholders.9 Again, the key recommendations here are to focus on improving classroom practice and putting students at the centre of everything; as will be shown, NST risks undermining the progress made in this area over the past decade. This report also, crucially, highlights the need for proper evaluation of the impact of education policy, pointing out that this is “essential for developing the most useful, practicable and successful education policy options.” This is of particular relevance to Scotland where the move towards NST has recently been characterised - correctly - as a “knee jerk reaction” by academic Professor Terry Wrigley: The introduction of blanket tests is a moral panic resulting from the latest Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy, with more heat than light generated by the Westminster-style point-scoring of some opposition party leaders. The data needs more careful consideration...Knee jerk reactions and moral panics do not make good policy.10 The Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN) is a sample-based survey which attempts to monitor national performance at P4, P7 and S2. It assesses literacy and numeracy in alternate years but has only been in place since 2011, making it difficult to draw concrete conclusions from the data it has thus far provided. Although it is true that literacy standards seemed to drop in the most recent results from the SSLN the 8. http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningandteaching/assessment/qaandmoderation/research.asp 9. http://www.oecd.org/edu/education-policy-outlook-2015-9789264225442-en.htm 10. http://issuu.com/eis-sej/docs/sej_oct2015web.compressed 6 | RISE.SCOT
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temptation to draw immediate conclusions - as many, particularly politicians - have already done should be resisted. Furthermore, the final stage in the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence generally regarded as the replacement of the “old Highers” with “new Highers” - only occurred last year. It is difficult to see how a “rigorous” and “consistent” evaluation of progress could possibly have been made in such a short space of time, yet the OECD report is clear that such actions are “essential”.
Why NST is Not Compatible with Curriculum for Excellence Despite the assurance of both the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Education, a centralised system of annual, standardised testing is in direct opposition to some of the key aims of Curriculum for Excellence. Building the Curriculum 5 - A Framework for Assessment (BTC5) was published in 2011 and outlined “the main areas of the assessment strategy for Curriculum for Excellence”.11 The BTC5 summary document12 concedes: “For many years teachers have been concerned that assessment has tended to determine the curriculum and not the other way around.” It also refers to the success of the Assessment Is for Learning programme in encouraging “diagnostic and formative approaches that directly support learning.” BTC5 places significant emphasis on the need to give “more autonomy and professional responsibility to teachers”. Indeed, Curriculum for Excellence was about trust in teachers, a trust which had been eroded by the Thatcherite centralism of the 5-14 programme. While progress had been made in this regard, the NIF now describes NST as being important to “ensure more consistency and reliability” in teachers’ professional judgement.13 It is not for politicians or their advisers to determine the way in which teachers arrive at assessment decisions, and attempts to do so stand in direct opposition to one of the central principles of Curriculum for Excellence. Perhaps the key consideration, however, is this: Curriculum for Excellence was never intended or designed to be measured by a system of NST. As a consequence, such an assessment system is fundamentally incompatible with core curricular documentation which promises, among other things, an alignment between “curriculum, learning and teaching and assessment.” This position is supported by a major - government backed - study lead by Professor Louise Hayward of the University of Glasgow. This paper, entitled “Assessment at Transition” and published in 2012 places significant emphasis on teacher judgement, exemplification, ongoing moderation of standards, collaboration between colleagues (with a focus on linking primary and secondary teachers), support to build teacher confidence in the accuracy of their assessment decisions and - crucially - the need for assessment approaches to be “directly linked the curricular statements of Curriculum for Excellence.” The paper also demands “a high level of trust for the people within our education system and for the system itself” and warns against a “possible worst case scenario” where “as a society and education system we become 11. https://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/BtC5Framework_tcm4-653230.pdf 12. http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/BTC5_tcm4-605259.pdf 13. http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0048/00484452.pdf 7 | RISE.SCOT
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Proposals around standardised testing run the very real risk of undermining everything that has been achieved in the past decade. EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SCOTLAND, THE UNION REPRESENTING SCOTTISH TEACHERS
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obsessed with measurement of progress against increasingly small and narrow targets and draw attention away from the broader aspirations of Curriculum for Excellence.”14 On the issue of NST this report, which deals specifically with potential means of improving the Scottish education system, is particularly damning: Effective accountability systems must be consistent with the aims of education rather than a diversion from or an obstruction to learning and teaching. For example, standardised tests do not provide valid information related to Curriculum for Excellence.
The Unintended Consequences of NST There are a number of serious consequences of plans for NST which cannot be ignored. The most troubling of these is the near certainty that NST will lead to a new system of league tables. Whether these are an intentional result of the government’s plan or not is of no relevance - the First Minister has already accepted them as an inevitability: I’m not going to stop [journalists] - if we publish any information - trying to put it into league tables. But that’s not the purpose for which we’re doing it. The idea - particularly in the age of Freedom of Information - that you could gather information like that and not publish it would be not tenable.15 League tables have the potential to be enormously damaging: by their nature they encourage competition - rather than co-operation - between schools, and also ensure that testing regimes become “high stakes” by linking perceptions of schools’ and teachers’ quality to their results. In an attempt to address damage done by public perception of poor results teachers will inevitably come under increasing pressure to “teach to the test”. Whether this pressure comes from Heads of Department, Headteachers, Local Authorities, parents, Education Scotland (which includes the Scottish schools inspectorate) or the Scottish Government is immaterial - the negative effects will be the same. Either in response to, or anticipation of, the reaction to “poor results” teachers will spend an ever-increasing amount of time “preparing” for NST with a consequent reduction in time spent exploring the “broad general education” to which the children of Scotland should be entitled. Furthermore, by placing such information in the public domain, NST league tables will encourage parents with the social and financial capital to move their children to “better performing” schools, thus leaving pupils from low-income families increasingly concentrated. In addition to this NST will encourage parents who can afford to do so to employ private tutors and purchase preparation material in order to boost their childrens’ chances of scoring highly. Finally, concerns have been raised that NST data could encourage greater use of abilitysetting throughout schools, a practice which is not only educationally damaging but also 14. unable to link directly to a copy of the report but they can be requested via: http://www.educationscotland.gov. uk/learningandteaching/assessment/qaandmoderation/research.asp 15. http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13611159.Sturgeon_admits_education_reforms_pave_the_way_for_ unofficial_primary_league_tables/ 9 | RISE.SCOT
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disproportionately disadvantages precisely the sort of children generally found on the wrong side of the “attainment gap”.16 All of this has already been observed elsewhere. For example, since 2008 Australia has administered an annual set of tests known as the National Assessment Plan - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). This system is strikingly similar to what is being proposed for Scotland as part of the NIF, with annual assessment of reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy carried out at four specific points in a child’s education.17 Greg Thomson (Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at Australia’s Murdoch University) has studied NAPLAN and its effects on the Australian education system: ...there is growing research evidence that suggests that there has been a raft of unintended consequences that are most likely having a negative impact on student learning (Thompson & Harbaugh, 2013). These unintended consequences mirror many experienced in the US and UK, including teaching to the test, narrowing the curriculum focus, increasing student and teacher anxiety, promoting direct teaching methods, a decrease in student motivation and the creation of classroom environments that are less, not more, inclusive (Comber, 2012; Comber & Nixon, 2009; Lingard, 2010; Polesel, Dulfer, & Turnbull, 2012; Thompson & Harbaugh, 2013). There is also research emerging arguing that the publication of the results on the MySchool website impacts on the ways that teachers and schools are viewed, as practices of audit, media discourses and numerate data come to measure and quantify what it is that education is, and should be, doing (Gannon, 2012; Mockler, 2013; Hardy & Boyle, 2011).18 Though the government has asserted that Scotland’s system of NST will avoid such problems, there is no good reason to expect that Scotland is uniquely capable of preventing the pitfalls experienced elsewhere. The problems outlined above are not a result of a flaw in Australia’s implementation of NST - it is inherent to this sort of approach to education. The damaging unintended consequences of NST experienced in other countries will almost certainly be replicated in our schools under the existing Scottish Government plans. Clearly NST has the potential to reinforce - rather than reduce - Scotland’s educational inequalities. The EIS union (which represents around 80% of Scottish teachers and opposes the Scottish Government’s plans) has already pointed out: “proposals around standardised testing run the very real risk of undermining everything that has been achieved in the past decade.”19 As Professor Brian Boyd (Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Strathclyde and a member of the Curriculum Review Group) has argued, NST has the potential to be “a retrograde step which will simply serve to worsen the problem” of educational inequality in Scotland.20
16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/equityandqualityineducation-supportingdisadvantagedstudentsandschools.htm http://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/naplan.html http://openjournals.library.usyd.edu.au/index.php/IEJ/article/viewFile/7456/7815 http://issuu.com/eis-sej/docs/sej_oct2015web.compressed https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/2323/programme-for-government-analysis-from-education-perspective 10 | RISE.SCOT
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What does RISE say? Trust Teachers Not Testing RISE members are currently discussing our policy platform for the 2016 elections which will be finalised at our conference in December. These suggestions are just a part of our developing education policy. • While on paper NST may seem sensible, in practice it risks doing serious damage to Scottish education and further entrenching - rather than helping to reduce educational inequality. • We all want to make Scotland a fairer and more just society but NST may have the opposite effect. These tests are often culturally biased, favouring middle class children coming from homes with books and parents who have time to read with and to their children. We need to acknowledge the desire of parents from areas of economic disadvantage to support their children’s learning and support them in doing so. Tests will divide children and reinforce inequalities when what we need is to bring children and their parents together in a common endeavour, namely to enable every child to fulfil their potential. • Assessment is a vital component of education (and one which takes places every single day in schools) but teachers must be trusted to make the most effective and appropriate use of assessment without political interference from central or local government. While we still face challenges around teacher confidence and the reporting of pupil progress these issues should be addressed by supporting the teaching profession, not undermining it. • Educational inequality is a manifestation of broader social problems which damage the lives of thousands of Scots - a comprehensive, cohesive, long-term strategy combining areas such as education, health, housing, child care and employment is vital if we are to tackle the deep-seated inequalities which continue to blight Scottish society. • The introduction of standardised testing may solve a political problem for the Scottish Government by partially neutering criticism from the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour, but it is not in the best interests of Scotland’s children or our nation as a whole. When it comes to education pedagogy must always come before politics.
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References/Further Reading Assessment at Transition - [unable to link directly to a copy of the report but they can be requested via: http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningandteaching/assessment/ qaandmoderation/research.asp] A Common Weal Education - http://reidfoundation.org/portfolio/a-common-wealeducation/ Closing the attainment gap in Scotland (JRF) - https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/closingattainment-gap-scottish-education Creating a Smarter Scotland: a Draft National Improvement Framework for Scottish Education - http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0048/00484452.pdf Curriculum for Excellence Building the Curriculum 5 - A Framework for Assessment https://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/BtC5Framework_tcm4-653230.pdf Developing a Framework for Effective Learning and Teaching - http://strathprints.strath. ac.uk/3124/ Educational inequality and the ignorance of policy - http://classonline.org.uk/docs/2013_ Policy_Paper_-_Education,_justice_and_democracy_(Stephen_Ball).pdf (p15) Education Endowment Foundation - Teaching and Learning Toolkit - https:// educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/toolkit-a-z/ EIS position & Standardised Tests will not Close the Gap (in SEJ October 2015) - http:// issuu.com/eis-sej/docs/sej_oct2015web.compressed Letters to the National - Tests are no answer to ending inequality - http://www. thenational.scot/comment/letters-to-the-national-august-22-tests-are-no-answer-toending-inequality.6659 NAPLAN, my school and accountability - teacher perceptions of the effects of testing http://openjournals.library.usyd.edu.au/index.php/IEJ/article/viewFile/7456/7815 Programme for Government: Analysis from an Education Perspective - https://www. commonspace.scot/articles/2323/programme-for-government-analysis-from-educationperspective Standardised testing increases social inequalities - http://www.veda.muni.cz/en/2658standardized-testing-increases-social-inequalities#.VhWHoXpViko The Case Against Standardized Testing (can’t find a full copy!!) - partial copy - http:// teacherrenewal.wiki.westga.edu/file/view/Testing,%20Testing,%20Testing.pdf The need for new intelligent accountabilities in education (VERY GOOD) - http://www.qtu. asn.au/files/1313/2268/2362/vo24_lingard.pdf Who pays for standardised testing - cost benefit analysis (£) - http://www.tandfonline. com/doi/full/10.1080/02680939.2015.1070206
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