Assessment for children in England at the end of primary school is set to see substantial reform after Michael Gove, Education Secretary, accepted all of the recommendations of an independent review of testing this week.

‘SAT’s or Standard Assessment Tests take place in primary schools in England at the end of year 6 – just before pupils move on to secondary school. There has been some major controversy over the marking of the tests this year with thousands of head teachers voicing their concerns over the quality of the external marking.

Last year around 4,000 schools boycotted the tests. The teaching unions believe that the tests do not offer a true picture of pupils' attainment and encourage ‘teaching to the test’ and put pupils under great deal of pressure. In response to this the government set up an independent review led by cross-bench peer, Lord Bew.

Currently there is statutory teacher assessment in every core subject – maths, reading, writing, speaking and listening, and science. But there are also external tests in maths, writing and reading, and a sample test in science and it is these tests that have been shown to carry errors in their results.

Michael Gove said the substantial reforms would “ensure that heads, teachers, pupils and parents would be able to have confidence in the new system.”

The current writing test will be replaced with teacher assessment of writing composition. The government hopes that this will encourage pupils to be more creative and will go some way to overcoming the dangers of ‘teaching to the test’.

The review called for better provision of data in the school performance tables and as a result new three-year rolling averages from 2012, will aim give a rounded picture of a school’s performance rather than a ‘snapshot’ view of a single year.

A greater emphasis on progress made by pupils will be introduced; any overall judgement of a school by the government, local authorities or Ofsted will give at least as much weight to progress as attainment. Progress will be one of the two main published measures, alongside attainment.

Secondary schools will be offered teacher assessment judgements of pupils before the test results are released, from 2012. This is in answer to secondary school teachers who called for a longer lead-in time to in inform Year 7 teaching and learning.

Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association for School and College Leaders welcomed the emphasis on getting information to secondary schools early, “We are pleased that the government is committed to getting information to secondary schools more quickly. The beginning of the autumn term is too late."

There will be a trial in 2012 of an extension to the testing period so that pupils who are ill on the day of a test have a week to sit it, rather than two days.

Maths and reading tests will continue to be externally tested but will be refined over time. Teacher assessment of science, with a sample test monitoring national standards, will continue. Speaking and listening will continue to be teacher assessed.

Michael Gove said, “The system in future will be fairer for teachers and pupils. I have always been clear that external accountability is essential if we are to drive up standards, and Lord Bew’s report recognises this. Publishing a greater range of data will be fairer for schools – schools should not be judged on one measure alone.

“There has been criticism that the current writing test encourages drilling. It is clear that elements of writing where there are right and wrong answers – spelling, punctuation and grammar – lend themselves to external testing. But writing composition is better suited to teacher assessment. We will trust teachers to judge their pupils’ abilities.”