The withdrawal of KS3 tests

The educational topic for November is the demise of KS3 tests which came as quite a shock to us last month. It is the suddeness of this announcement that is most surprising. We have seen a gradual shift in Government interest from progress between KS2 to KS3 and KS3 to KS4 to progress over the whole secondary school age (KS2 - 4). So KS3 tests have become less important to the Government. The problems with marking and administering the tests has, I'm sure, accelerated their withdrawal.

The withdrawal of the tests does not upset me because I do feel that pupils are tested and examined too much. The English tests have been consistently unreliable and English teachers across the County have little or no faith in them. The system for marking the papers was always far less reliable than for GCSE. On the other hand, the results, particularly in Maths, have proved reliable and useful.

The consequences of this sudden withdrawal of the tests has presented us with some problems. We will need to test pupils in Maths, Science and English (as well as other subjects) towards the end of Year 9 to give us information in order to group them into sets and advise them about their "options". This year is still a challenge to Year 9 pupils and their progresss is important in terms of preparation for GCSE courses. Our target setting system is based on KS2 test levels, as are the Government's figures by which they judge schools' progress. The withdrawal of the tests has resulted in the Government having to withdraw a number of targets by which they measure schools.

So we have seen the end of KS3 tests - well maybe! We haven't seen the end of a culture of targets and measuring achievement. So, although we have seen the withdrawal of some targets from Government, we await their replacement with bated breath. I am sure we will see new measures in the new year. They may not require exams in the same way as KS3 tests but I am sure they will require us to measure pupil progress in some way.