12 Comments

  1. julietgreen
    February 9, 2016 @ 7:13 pm

    Reply

  2. annahalford (@anhalf)
    February 9, 2016 @ 8:42 pm

    Well observed. I’m hoping to be a moderator for the LA, but agree with all the points raised in this article.
    Work has to be independent if it is a valid piece for assessment. End of.
    Without that assurance, the whole process is massively flawed. Real writers don’t produce polished pieces first time round. Fairer to have agreement on exactly what amount of input and to see how children edit and improve their work. Far too much emphasis on complex sentence structure and punctuation will inevitably lead to formulaic writing.

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  3. fish64
    February 9, 2016 @ 9:14 pm

    Sounds too much like GCSE controlled assessment. By the time the final draft is submitted there is very little “independent” about it!

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    • teachwell
      February 9, 2016 @ 9:33 pm

      I think I touch on that in the blog – what’s the point of getting rid of it in Secondary and then putting it in primary. In the end it is not about us teachers, schools or Ofsted. It is genuinely a case of assessing children honestly so we can teach them better. I know there is a summer slump BUT it is not going to end up being as big if we have correctly assessed. We can then see where revision is needed, where something needs to be retaught. We have been too dishonest in our assessments for too long.

      Reply

  4. Matt M
    February 9, 2016 @ 10:00 pm

    Nearly all the exemplification is clearly written ‘in best’ using a line guide – hence the lack of lines on any of it. This would mean we are (at best) seeing the second draft after teacher marking/correcting.

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    • teachwell
      February 9, 2016 @ 10:04 pm

      I just think even if you are in favour of second drafts after being marked by the teacher – it should add up to the maladministration rules. They state clearly it is what can be done unaided and what you can do after marking and correction is not unaided!!

      Reply

  5. Michael Tidd
    February 9, 2016 @ 10:25 pm

    A few things to pick up here: frankly what the rules are about independence are academic. The only purpose of the accountability system is to compare pupils, so all that is needed is a “fair test”. The problem with allowing pieces of work that are the (good and appropriate) result of good teaching is that we have no way of reliably comparing circumstances.

    Your choice of text types is bizarre: why a chronological and non-chronological report? Is that a sufficiently important distinction to matter? Also, as poetry isn’t on the Writing curriculum, I don’t think that deserves a place at all. (Most kids write crap poetry, in my experience, as do most adults).

    My final point: wouldn’t it be better just to ditch statutory Teacher Assessment altogether?

    Reply

    • teachwell
      February 9, 2016 @ 10:46 pm

      Happy to ditch poems!! As for the choice of texts – it was meant to be a throw it out there example not necessarily what is best by any means. When I wrote the blog it felt a bit vague at that point. I honestly think ditching it would make sense so would you go back to written tests?

      Reply

      • Michael Tidd
        February 9, 2016 @ 10:47 pm

        I’m undecided on what’s best. I’m not persuaded by cold tests. Part of me thinks comparative judgements would be the way to go…

        Reply

        • teachwell
          February 9, 2016 @ 10:50 pm

          In conversation on twitter, the comparative judgements that Daisy Christoloudou blogged about did come up and makes sense. However, we still have to know what to submit and the point about the circumstances it was written in springs up again!!

          Reply

          • Michael Tidd
            February 9, 2016 @ 10:53 pm

            That’s what leaves me undecided. 🙂

          • teachwell
            February 10, 2016 @ 12:44 am

            Damn you Michael – I thought you had all the answers!!! ?

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