Replacing Onerous Primary Assessment with Better Monitoring and Evaluation (Part 1)
Updated: Sep 8
If you read my recent post on how to assess foundation subjects in primary and were left wondering about the lack of evidence and data that the process would result in, you're in the right place.
In this blog post I'm going to share a few thoughts about how you might solve the issue, and (sneak peek ahoy) the answer involves subject leaders and monitoring.
My argument is that schools don't need more teacher-generated assessment data to understand how well foundation subjects are working; they need purposeful monitoring and evaluation led by subject leaders.
"I would not have checklists, ticksheets, records or evidence to be used for summative purposes, and therefore would not be compiling or reporting quantitative data about individual pupil achievement in foundation subjects. I would not require teachers to assess against each individual objective, piece of key knowledge or KPIs. I believe this to be too onerous for teachers to the point where it either wouldn't be done at all or wouldn't be done well enough to make it worth anything. I also believe it would have a comparatively small impact on pupils when looked at as a cost-benefit ratio.
As a result, subject leaders would have to carry out other forms of monitoring and evaluation to gain an understanding of how things are going in their subject. Speaking with teachers and pupils would be the key part of this. This admittedly may result in an increase in workload for teachers in their capacity as subject leader, but this could be mitgated for by the provision of training and time."
Why Subject Leaders Need Time and Training
Now, let's address the issue of subject leadership, time and remuneration before we jump into this. I'm saying subject leaders should be heavily involved in this process because I believe they are the ones who know most about their subjects. However, the following suggested actions should be supported by members of SLT. Subject leaders should not be asked to do any jobs if they are not given the time to do them or the training to be able to do them well. I'd also advocate for subject leadership roles to be reflected in pay packets although I know the school budget crisis means this is often not the case. If you are a school leader reading this, do consider how you can support subject leaders in carrying out the following suggestions.
What Do Subject Leaders Need to Do This Well?
I've worked with lots of subject leaders and have shared plenty of tips online for how to be a good subject leader. My 'Starter for 5: Monitoring and Evaluation' blog post brings several of these ideas together in one place.
First of all a workbook to guide subject leaders through the year:
And this blog post which collates some of my other blog posts about monitoring and evaluation:
Although the above resources are useful, subject leaders need lots of high quality, ongoing training if they are to really benefit the school in the role. I've trained lots of subject leaders and can work with your subject leaders too. One way to do that is through staff training:
Another way to do this (and perhaps even more effectively) is have me work alongside them to develop and refine these monitoring and evaluative processes. The best way to make that happen is to book a consultancy day and we can then tailor the day to the needs of your subject leaders. For example, I can accompany subject leaders as they visit lessons, speak to pupils and teachers, look at pupils' work, provide feedback to their colleagues and compile reports about their findings.
What Should Subject Leaders Monitor and Evaluate?
Now that all the pre-amble is out of the way, what can subject leaders and school leaders do to replace onerous primary assessment practices with better monitoring and evaluation?
The end goals of any activities would be:
that teaching and learning in each subject is excellent
that leaders know what is going well and what needs to be improved
That starts with being clear about what you actually want pupils to achieve through the curriculum — something I explore in 'Curriculum-Making: Start With The End In Mind'. These goals would be achieved by an overarching, long-term action:
subject leaders confidently and accurately report on the state of their subject
This reporting would have to be seen as trustworthy and better than spreadsheets full of teacher assessment data and judgements (not too hard as these often tell leaders very little that is useful).
To facilitate this, I would recommend an agreed reporting format which would ensure that similar information was being collected and reported across all subjects. This would most likely be agreed in-house and developed based on the specific needs of each school. This could take the form of a set of tasks to be completed, a series of questions to be answered, and the relevant evaluations based on these. This could be structured around pre-exisiting frameworks, such as the Ofsted inspection framework or similar. Here are a couple of free resources that might form the basis of this:
With regards to the set of activities that subject leaders might carry out, you may decide on the following:
Lesson observations (If lesson observation is part of your monitoring approach, I've written separately about how to make lesson observations more useful)
Looking at pupil work
Speaking to pupils and staff
Curicculum review, including lesson planning
Hopefully it goes without saying that subject leaders should be well trained in doing the above, and supported by more experienced, expert members of the leadership team as they do it. A good starting point is my guide to monitoring your subject, which sets out some principles for carrying out monitoring and evaluation well.
Once these processes have been carried out, subject leaders should then compile their findings ready for sharing. Given the recent furore caused by Ofsted's report card system, I'd be avoiding anything that resembled one-word judgements, RAG rating and the like. A series of brief written statements about different aspects of the teaching and learning in each subject should suffice and will be much more valuable than one-dimensional judgements.
In Part 2, I share an example of what this approach to monitoring and evaluation might look like in reality.
From Assessment Data to Better Monitoring and Evaluation
The aim isn't to replace one set of burdensome processes with another. It's to use the expertise of subject leaders to gather the information that actually helps schools understand what's working, what isn't and what needs to happen next.
Want Better Monitoring and Evaluation in Your School?
Good monitoring and evaluation isn't about creating more evidence, more spreadsheets or more work for teachers. It's about finding out what you actually need to know about your subjects — and then using that information to make things better.
I work with schools and subject leaders to develop monitoring and evaluation processes that are purposeful, manageable and genuinely useful.
If your current approach feels onerous, inconsistent or disconnected from what you actually need to know, let's work out a better way.
Here's how it works:
1. Get in touch Tell me a little about your school and what's currently happening.
2. Let's talk We'll discuss your current assessment and monitoring processes and identify where the problems are.
3. Develop a better approach We'll work together to create a practical approach that gives you useful information without creating unnecessary workload.
.png)
.png)
