Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason her Department did not give one year's notice of the new system for assessment of pupils' achievement in reading, writing and mathematics at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

The new national curriculum tests at Key Stages 1 and 2 were first announced in March 2014, and since then we have provided schools with further information to help them adapt to the assessment arrangements. In addition to sample questions published in summer 2014, complete sample tests were published in summer 2015 to give primary schools nearly a year of lead-in time to ensure their pupils are adequately prepared.

The new interim teacher assessment frameworks ay Key Stages 1 and 2 were published in September 2015 and were therefore provided at the start of the academic year in time for use this summer. Our public consultation on the frameworks received a large volume of diverse feedback, which we wanted to give proper consideration before introducing the important change for schools. Recent publications in January and February 2016 did not announce any change to assessment arrangements, but provided example materials to support teachers in making teacher assessment judgements.