Current position

The evaluation Test Review which the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) conducts each year is very valuable in offering an overall picture of the way tests operated in practice when taken by pupils in the classroom.

Proposal

The evaluation Test Review process might be extended to include a particular focus on issues relating to the accessibility of the materials for pupils with a range of special educational or assessment needs. This might involve the following steps:

• a select group of about twelve teachers who work with pupils with special educational or assessment needs who are due to take the key stage tests are invited to take part in a review
• immediately after their pupils have taken the tests, the teacher will talk to a small group of up to four pupils that offer a representative sample of the types of special educational or assessment needs of pupils in their year group.

A sheet with four or five question prompts is then made available to help teachers to structure their discussions with their pupils.

• The teachers will consider their pupils' comments, and decide whether they indicate any issues relating to the accessibility of the questions.
• The teachers are then invited to a meeting with the test developers that has an Ofqual observer in attendance to report on their pupils' experiences with the tests.

Question prompts that might be included on the prompt sheet include:

• What was your favourite question? Why did you like it?
• What was your least favourite question? Why did you not like it?
• Did you get stuck on any of the questions? Why were you stuck?
• Were there any questions that you didn't understand?
• What could the people who write the tests do to make them better?

The meeting of the Special Education Teacher Review Panel to discuss pupils’ experiences in the live tests will have to be set up and funded under the contractual arrangements between commissioners and test developers. This panel approach will provide highly focused qualitative evidence on the accessibility of the tests for pupils with a range of special education and assessment needs.

If you would like to read more about this before answering these questions, please look at the Ofqual commissioned report by language experts Jamal Abedi and Tandi Clausen May.

Responding to Proposal 1

Please complete the response form online. The form is available to print at Annex 1 of the PDF version of this consultation.