Ofsted: Annual Report 2012-13 Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateLord Sutherland of Houndwood
Main Page: Lord Sutherland of Houndwood (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Sutherland of Houndwood's debates with the Department for Education
(10 years, 10 months ago)
Lords ChamberAssessment, as opposed to testing, is obviously crucial to ensure effective accountability and to work out whether pupils are making progress, which is an issue that I know Ofsted is very focused on. We have held a public consultation on proposals for key stage 1 assessment, whose results have not been published. As far as key stage 3 tests are concerned, we have no plans to reintroduce key stage 3 tests but we expect all schools to be able to demonstrate to Ofsted, through whatever assessment mechanism they use, that their pupils are making progress.
My Lords, would the Minister agree that, while the use of the word “lucky” is good shock tactics—and, possibly, good politics—the primary responsibility of Government, and all of us who are involved in education, is to improve the quality of schools and teaching and to take luck completely out of the picture?