The Department for Education has sought views on new performance descriptors for statutory teacher assessment at the end of key stages 1 and 2, which are being revised in light of the new curriculum introduced in September 2014.
In its response, CSIE highlighted the damaging effect that the proposed terminology could have on children’s self-esteem and suggested a number of alternatives. Our response also suggested that the draft descriptors should be revised, rather than introducing a new system which acknowledges a gap in its own structure.
Above all, CSIE expressed significant concern at the way in which the standards agenda continues to stand in the way of including disabled children in their ordinary local school. To mitigate against this, CSIE suggested that there should be scope within league tables (or other systems which compare attainment results) to value schools’ contribution to the learning and development of disabled children or those identified as having special educational needs. In other words, we proposed that schools should also be judged on how well they serve their local community and that the government should offer incentives to encourage schools to admit children expected to make slow academic progress.
