Thinking Deeply about Primary Education
Breaking Free 3: The Future of Key Stage One Writing Assessment
Jul 8, 2023
Neil Almond, an expert in primary education assessment, and Christopher Such, a specialist in early learning methodologies, dive into the transformative shifts in Key Stage 1 writing assessments. They discuss the recent removal of KS1 SATs, emphasizing how this opens the door for schools to enhance reading evaluations. Key topics include innovative teaching strategies like 'colourful semantics' to teach sentence structure and the importance of holistic assessments that consider students' overall writing development, from handwriting to creativity.
48:39
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Quick takeaways
- The removal of KS1 SATs allows for a transformative approach to writing assessment, shifting focus towards developing sentence construction skills over mere text length.
- Emphasizing the relationship between spoken language and writing, the podcast advocates for targeted strategies that enhance students' understanding of sentence structure and writing mechanics.
Deep dives
The Future of Writing Assessment
Discussing writing assessment at Key Stage 1 reveals issues with current practices, such as the lack of formalized writing standards compared to Key Stage 2. There is an acknowledgment that teachers often face pressure to align student assessments with arbitrary targets, leading to superficial results that don’t accurately reflect students’ capabilities. Many students leave Year 2 without mastering essential sentence structures or basic punctuation, often creating poor writing habits due to these rushed processes. This results in unreliable data that affects students' transition to higher grades, indicating a need for a more thoughtful approach to assessment.
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