25 July 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and Families has clashed with its select committee over the impact of the school testing regime.
As Schools Secretary Ed Balls came to the Commons to account for missing national test results, the select committee branded his department's response to its report on the testing and assessment regime as 'disappointing'.
The committee has joined a growing chorus critical of National Curriculum tests and the school league tables they inform. In a report in May, it called for urgent reform, saying that in too many cases testing had led to a narrowing of the curriculum as teachers focused solely on getting their pupils to pass the test. It recommended ongoing teacher assessment and a broader, more balanced picture of school performance.
The DCSF's official response to the report, published on July 22, disputed the suggestion that schools 'taught to the test' to preserve their league table position. But this missed the point, committee chair Barry Sheerman responded. '[The government] is unwilling to concede that teaching to the test is a widespread problem despite all the significant evidence that the committee heard.
'It is a pity that [it] has not taken this opportunity to make a commitment to reform the national testing system.'
This year's test results have been plagued by administrative chaos and doubts about the quality of the marking. Addressing the Commons on July 22, Balls said that 98% of Key Stage Two results and 88% of Key Stage Three results were now available. He said responsibility for the problems lay with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the contractor ETS, and ministerial interference would be inappropriate.
Teaching unions repeated their call for testing to be abandoned. Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: 'All the evidence points in one direction: that of the government suspending the current National Curriculum testing arrangements, and commissioning a fundamental and independent review of the tests.'
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