30 November 2007
Senior MPs are to focus their attention on how the school testing and performance regime can be reformed, Public Finance has learned.
David Chaytor, a member of the newly formed children, schools and families select committee, told PF that its first inquiry would concentrate on the national testing and assessment regime and the way results are presented as league tables.
'Within the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, within the teaching profession, among parents and the general public and within the media, there is an emerging consensus that our testing regime is too prescriptive and counter-productive,' he said.
League tables based on national test and exam results have long been criticised for giving too crude a picture of school performance.
Ministers have acknowledged the limitations of league tables and this year introduced 'contextual value added measures', which take into account external factors, such as deprivation and special educational needs levels.
But Chaytor criticised CVA scores as opaque and difficult for parents to understand. Recording a school's performance should be done in a way similar to other public sector organisations such as councils, with descriptions such as 'outstanding', 'excellent' or 'good', he suggested.
'I think the broad-brush school profile, accompanied by lots of detail that is accessible to those who want it, is the way forward,' Chaytor said.
'You can't separate a school's performance in exam results from its performance in pastoral care, or in extra-curricular activities, the role it plays in its local community.'
A spokeswoman for the Association of Teachers and Lecturers welcomed news of the parliamentary inquiry but urged action. 'The weight of opinion is now that the testing regime is not working and we need to do something different,' she told PF.
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