JOHN Swinney said there will be no snap decisions made on the future of national assessments for primary one pupils in Scotland’s schools, after MSPs voted by a majority of just two in favour of scrapping the tests.
After a heated debate, Holyrood voted by 63 to 61 for a Conservative motion demanding the Scottish Government halt the use of standardised national assessments for four and five-year-olds.
Education Secretary Swinney said he would “consider” the result of the vote, which is not binding on the Government, and “make a parliamentary statement in due course”.
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He added the Government “still believes assessment is an important part of improvement agenda” and advised schools to “continue with their existing plans” for the assessments, which were put in place after independent experts said Scotland’s education system did not did not provide enough information about learning outcomes and progress.
Allison Skerrett, a professor at the University of Texas who is one of the Scottish Government’s International Council of Education Advisers, said of the tests: “It’s early to decide that something is not working.”
She added that the council “generally supports the ways in which the assessments have been delivered and the purposes for which they are going to be used”.
During the debate Swinney defended the use of the tests for four and five-year-olds, saying: “Assessment is an essential part of a good education system, it is an integral part of effective teaching and learning.”
He explained the standardised assessments – which are also used to measure the performance of youngsters in P4, P7 and S3 – were introduced after the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reviewed the Scottish education system in 2015.
“We sought external independent opinion which said that we did not have enough information about learning outcomes and progress,” he said. “So, we have put in place the standardised assessments. It is absolutely vital to get as much information as possible on children’s achievement as early as possible.”
Tory education spokeswoman Liz Smith claimed after the vote that the evidence for testing children in P1 should be re-examined. She said afterwards: “The Scottish Parliament has voted decisively on this matter, and now the SNP government must act on that.”
Smith’s call was echoed by Labour, the Greens and the LibDems. Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard claimed: “Teachers told this Government that these tests were useless, ministers ignored them.
“Parents told this Government that they do not trust these tests, ministers ignored them. The Scottish Parliament has now voted to scrap these tests and SNP ministers must not now ignore the will of Parliament.”
Green education spokesman Ross Greer said that while a majority of MSPs had joined teachers and others in calling for the tests to be scrapped, “in a fit of arrogance the Government seems set to ignore our decision”.
And LibDem Tavish Scott said: “This is now the ‘will of the Parliament’. The SNP Government must now issue instructions to all schools to cease these tests.”
Gordon MacDonald, an SNP
member of the Parliament’s
education committee, said: “The
Scottish Government introduced P1 assessments because they are a tool we need to track kids’ progress and help drive up standards in
our schools.
“The Tories put standardised P1 assessments in their manifesto, the vast majority of Tory-run councils across Scotland already assessed kids from P1, so did Labour councils and likewise the LibDems.
“Labour and the LibDems have sided with the Tories in their political gamesmanship, and sought to prey on the anxieties of parents, just to grab a headline. It’s depressing that they all stood willing to do so at the expense of kids’ education.”
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