What is the purpose of testing? Is it to generate an array of metrics to measure the performance of schools, subjects and individual pupils? Or is it an essential part of normal everyday classroom practice used as part of the learning process?
Assessment serves both purposes. However, there has arguably been far more emphasis on testing as a means of generating metrics in recent years than there has been on its role as a tool for learning.
It is an issue which is particularly relevant now because of the decision to scrap national curriculum levels. The unintended consequence of that system was that while we focused on the numbers, this created a misleading impression of pupils’ learning journey.
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