The Literacy Shed Blog
  • Blog
  • DADWAVERS
  • VIPERS

The Literacy Shed Blog

For the love of facts: There is nothing wrong with the KS2 Spag Test!

25/1/2016

9 Comments

 
For the love of facts: There is nothing wrong with the KS2 Spag test.
 
(That is what some people say!)
 
Not me! 

There is something fundamentally wrong with this test.  It is testing knowledge that children have not had time to learn.  It is assuming that children leaving Y6 have had a rigorous and thorough grammar education, which is supplied by the government in the form of a GaPS curriculum.
However, herein lies the problem for the children taking these tests in May. They will not have had 2 years of learning from this new curriculum because it hasn’t been out that long, and the tests are taken in May cutting a further 20% of the learning time in Y6.

I have recently read arguments on prominent blogs and on twitter that suggest grammar teaching does not have to be dull and boring, that learning grammar will not turn children off learning English and that just because the children have to learn to label the language terms (in order to pass a test) this doesn’t mean that they won’t enjoy learning them because ultimately children like to learn.  I agree with the fact it doesn’t have to be dull and boring.
However, with the rushed implementation of the tests comes a range of implications. 
  1.  Teacher knowledge isn’t sufficiently developed in some staff, this being for a range of reasons.  It may be that some of the more complex Grammar concepts have not been taught or used for a while.  It may be that their training did not involve this, more complex, grammar framework as it wasn’t on the curriculum.  We also have to remember that for some primary teachers their English qualification was a C at GCSE and their QTS skills test and although this is perfectly adequate to teach, neither had a specific grammar section as difficult as the KS2 test. In addition, some of the language is different from that learned by teachers, such as speech marks to inverted commas or the use of an exclamation only for sentences which begin with ‘What…’ and ‘How…’ etc.
  2.  A substantial amount of knowledge needs to be taught in a very short amount of time.  This results in drilling and cramming sessions, which for many children are neither fun nor conducive to secure learning.  For many children these lessons are out of context and they lead to the concepts being not sufficiently embedded enough to be used in writing or for that matter speaking in a range of contexts. 
  3. Teachers are after a quick fix to combat the lack of rigorous learning lower down the school due to the points above.  They overload their learning of grammar: some schools have before school, lunch and after school grammar ‘clubs’ for pupils in UKS2.  Children have grammar booster sessions which means they miss out on some other part of the curriculum.  Unfortunately this can lead to some feelings of negativity towards grammar learning.
  4. As with any school subject we try to force children to enjoy; it is hard to engender the love of it if we constantly test them and tell them that they need to improve or that they didn’t score well enough so they will have to miss a break time etc. in order to get better.   The teacher is not to blame for this, they are reacting to the demands of a curriculum and a government who see fit to test UKS2 children as though they have had 6 years of well taught, well embedded grammar sessions.  They are also reacting to the knowledge that they will be held accountable.
So that is the problem - what is the solution?

I am not against the testing of children and I am not against the GaPS test per se. 
What I am against is the children currently in UKS2 being tested on it.  That and the fact that this measurement is then used to judge teachers.


In previous schools I have been given targets based on the outcomes of children at the end of the year.  Basically I was given the number of children who were expected to pass the range of tests at the end of each year group at age related expectations or above.

 I was told that these targets would be used as part of our staff performance management and that this could adversely affect our pay, either by halting a rise up the pay scale or leading to a reduction in pay for those staff on UPS who did not meet the targets. 

This may not sound too bad; you may think that teachers who are not getting children to reach their potential don’t deserve to travel up the pay scale.  A teacher who does not do their damnedest to teach their children meet their potential is a rare teacher indeed. 

Further worry is caused by schools using ‘aspirational’ targets.  Targets set by SLT who decide where it would be ‘nice’ to get to and often these are unachievable targets for some pupils.  This has huge implications too.  More drilling, more cramming, more missing ‘lesser’ parts of the curriculum in order to bash the targets.

For me the solution is easy.  Implement a rolling programme for the new testing regime.  Introduce the new curriculum but test pupils in two years’ time when they have had time to learn the content in an interesting and engaging way:  a way which is not superficial and decontextualized. Test the pupils when they have had opportunity to embed the new curriculum in their learning and use it in a range of contexts ensuring that they are secure in their use and application.  Test pupils when their understanding of grammar is deeper than surface level and they are able to retain and use their knowledge more than to simply select the correct multiple choice answer in a test booklet. 

As always I am happy for you to point out errors and I look forward to reading your comments. 

​Rob 

9 Comments
Michael Tidd link
26/1/2016 11:28:31 pm

I agree entirely - it's the shift in expectations with too little warning that makes this test so unfair.
Of course, strictly speaking, the GPS scores are not part of school accountability, but that won't stop it being used as part of Ofsted judgements, or LA intervention judgements, or for some schools' appraisal programmes as you rightly say. Most unfair to test children on a curriculum for which they've only had half the required teaching.

Reply
Steve
27/1/2016 05:11:09 am

Of course, since the new test will be reported as a scaled score with the national mean set to 100, no matter how well (or bad) the students across the country do we will have around 50% of the cohort nationally meeting or exceeding it!

We could end up with the scenario where a lost test score equates to '100' which will hide the fact that students 'bombed' in the test nationally.

Reply
Michael Tidd link
27/1/2016 09:56:08 pm

I think you've misunderstood the scaled scores. 100 doesn't represent the "national mean". It is a point which - theoretically at least - matches a fixed descriptor, just like the old L4 threshold was.

Matt
27/1/2016 10:24:30 am

Rob

Almost entirely in agreement, though I'm not a damn of testing children, or at least not a fan of over-the-top testing children, which is what successive political regimes have insisted is right.
However, please don't blame SLT for over-rigourous performance management target-setting add the pressure on them to be relentless in the pursuit of high standards is, well, relentless. They do try their best to soften the blows!

Reply
Rob
27/1/2016 10:29:32 am

Some do Matt, sadly in the 10 years I taught for I didn't work for any that did. As I wrote in the blog I worked in a school where the threat of losing pay was issued at the same time targets were given out. Hardly softening the blow. I do visit many schools where this doesn't happen. I visit many schools where confident SLT are ready to fight their corner and defend their results, although I also visit school where this doesn't happen and the SLT follow whatever local SIP etc say, no matter how detrimental!

Reply
Martin Bramley
27/1/2016 06:14:20 pm

I was actually pleased when the 2013 SPaG test arrived. It helped to focus teaching on some often overlooked aspects of English and helped to embed a much clearer grasp of sentence structures. However, the increased expectations have moved into areas of grammar that won't improve their writing, especially at this stage in their development. I feel that many of the newer areas will be drilled for the test and then forgotten. Subjunctive mood anyone?

Reply
poop link
19/4/2017 09:11:14 pm

poop

Reply
바카라사이트 link
2/12/2022 02:17:32 pm

온라인카지노 http://xn--o80b27i69npibp5en0j.vom77.com/ 슬롯머신사이트 http://xn--mp2bs6av7jp7brh74w2jv.vom77.com/ 바카라사이트 http://xn--oi2b30g3ueowi6mjktg.vom77.com/ 카지노사이트 http://xn--o80b910a26eepc81il5g.vom77.com/ 온라인바카라 http://xn--oi2ba146a24mbtbtvt.vom77.com/ 온라인슬롯머신 http://xn--mp2bs6av7jp7brh74w2jv.vom77.com/ 바카라사이트추천 http://xn--oi2b30g3ueowi6mjktg.vom77.com/ 카지노사이트추천 http://xn--o80b910a26eepc81il5g.vom77.com/ https://www.google.no/url?sa=t&url=http://xn--o80b910a26eepc81il5g.vom77.com/ https://www.google.nl/url?sa=t&url=http://xn--o80b910a26eepc81il5g.vom77.com/ https://www.google.mw/url?sa=t&url=http://xn--o80b910a26eepc81il5g.vom77.com/ https://www.google.mv/url?sa=t&url=http://xn--oi2b30g3ueowi6mjktg.vom77.com/ https://www.google.mu/url?sa=t&url=http://xn--oi2b30g3ueowi6mjktg.vom77.com/ https://www.google.ms/url?sa=t&url=http://xn--oi2b30g3ueowi6mjktg.vom77.com/ https://www.google.mn/url?sa=t&url=http://xn--mp2bs6av7jp7brh74w2jv.vom77.com/ https://www.google.mk/url?sa=t&url=http://xn--mp2bs6av7jp7brh74w2jv.vom77.com/ https://www.google.mg/url?sa=t&url=http://xn--mp2bs6av7jp7brh74w2jv.vom77.com/ https://www.google.me/url?sa=t&url=http://xn--o80b27i69npibp5en0j.vom77.com/ https://www.google.md/url?sa=t&url=http://xn--o80b27i69npibp5en0j.vom77.com/ https://www.google.lv/url?sa=t&url=http://xn--oi2ba146a24mbtbtvt.vom77.com/ https://www.google.lu/url?sa=t&url=http://xn--oi2ba146a24mbtbtvt.vom77.com/

Reply
카지노온라인 link
18/2/2023 09:29:42 am

gusionsaber799@gmail.com 18/2
https://bit.ly/3HcwRO1
https://thewinapi.com/
https://thewinapi.com/ 솔루션분양
https://thewinapi.com/ 카지노api
https://thewinapi.com/ 카지노사이트
https://thewinapi.com/ 바카라사이트
https://thewinapi.com/ 온라인카지노
https://thewinapi.com/ 카지노솔루션
https://thewinapi.com/ 온라인슬롯사이트
https://thewinapi.com/ 카지노사이트게임
https://thewinapi.com/ 카지노사이트검증
https://thewinapi.com/ 카지노사이트추천
https://thewinapi.com/ 안전카지노사이트
https://thewinapi.com/ 안전카지노사이트도메인
https://thewinapi.com/ 안전한 카지노사이트 추천
https://thewinapi.com/ 바카라사이트게임
https://thewinapi.com/ 바카라사이트검증
https://thewinapi.com/ 바카라사이트추천
https://thewinapi.com/ 안전바카라사이트
https://thewinapi.com/ 안전바카라사이트도
https://thewinapi.com/ 안전한 바카라사이트
http://toolbarqueries.google.com.uy/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
http://toolbarqueries.google.com.tw/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
http://toolbarqueries.google.com.tr/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
http://toolbarqueries.google.com.sa/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
http://toolbarqueries.google.com.py/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
http://toolbarqueries.google.com.pr/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
http://toolbarqueries.google.com.pk/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
http://toolbarqueries.google.com.pe/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
http://toolbarqueries.google.com.my/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
http://toolbarqueries.google.com.hk/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
http://toolbarqueries.google.com.gt/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
http://toolbarqueries.google.com.gh/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://clients1.google.com.ar/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://clients1.google.com.ag/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://clients1.google.co.zm/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://clients1.google.co.za/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://clients1.google.co.ve/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://clients1.google.co.uz/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://clients1.google.co.ug/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://clients1.google.co.th/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://clients1.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://clients1.google.co.kr/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://clients1.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://clients1.google.co.il/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://clients1.google.co.id/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://clients1.google.co.cr/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://clients1.google.co.ck/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.co.ck/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.co.bw/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.cm/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.cl/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.ci/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.ch/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.ch/url?sa=i&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.cg/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.cd/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.by/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.bs/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.bi/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.bg/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.be/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.be/url?sa=i&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.ba/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.az/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://cse.google.at/url?sa=t&url=https://thewinapi.com/
https://images.google.ca/url?sa=t&url=https://winapikeudora30.blogspot.com/2023/02/6-motivations-behind-why-video-poker.html
https://images.google.by/url?sa=t&url=https://winapikeudora30.blogspot.com/2023/02/6-motivations-behind-why-video-poker.html
https://images.google.bs/url?sa=t&url=https://winapikeudora30.blogspot.com/2023/02/6-motivations-behind-why-video-poker.html
https://images.google.bi/url

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Rob from Literacy Shed

    Just writing down what I think about school and education. 

    This blog is split into 3:

    The Main Blog
    DADWAVERS
    Books

    If you would like to write a guest blog please email me rob@literacyshed.com

    Archives

    July 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    June 2013
    May 2013

    Categories

    All
    App
    Assessment
    Back To School
    #bookblast
    Books
    Champion
    Collective Nouns
    Competition
    Failure
    Fear
    Flanimals
    Grammar
    GreenPeace
    Inspiration
    Jabberwocky
    Knowledge Of Texts
    Ks1
    KS2
    Land Of Never Believe
    Lie Tree
    Literacy
    Moderation
    Persuasion
    Primary
    Pupils
    Rang Tan
    Reading
    Reading Skills
    Reading Vipers
    Rita Pierson
    Rules
    Show Don't Tell
    Social Media
    Spelling
    Teacher
    Technique
    Technology
    Twitter
    Twittiquette
    Vipers
    Vocabulary
    Whole Class Read
    Whole School
    Who To Follow
    Wicked
    World War 2
    Writing
    Writing Assessment

    RSS Feed

  • Blog
  • DADWAVERS
  • VIPERS