Proposed improvements to national curriculum assessment for seven, 11 and 14-year-olds in Wales in a Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales report published this week foreshadow action to boost standards and widen educational opportunity.
The report seeks to establish a coherent curriculum and assessment framework which would meet the needs of the public, teachers, parents and governors.
It proposes: * improving the way in which teachers, parents, governors and the public use information about achievement at seven, 11 and 14; * further improving the quality of teachers’ assessment; * making information obtained from statutory tasks and tests more comprehensible and useful; * dealing with subject-specific issues and considering possible improvements to the assessment of Welsh and the assessment of maths and science taught in Welsh; * obtaining better value for money; * establishing the principles on which future reviews of the curriculum and its assessment arrangement should best be carried out.
The report follows an earlier review published in February 1996. It is expected to be high on the reading list of Win Griffiths, the Bridgend MP who has been appointed as the junior Welsh Office minister responsible for education.
