Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have received from parents concerning communications between teachers and parents on children's performance in school.

The Government removed the system of levels used to report children’s attainment in September 2014. As set out in the report of The Commission on Assessment Without Levels, published in September 2015, levels had come to have a negative impact on teaching and did not provide a suitable means of assessing the attainment of pupils accurately.

Levels were only ever intended to be used for end of Key Stage statutory assessment but, over time, they came to dominate all assessment. The decision to remove levels has granted schools the freedom to choose an approach to assessment and reporting that works for their pupils and their curriculum. The report published by the Commission provided helpful guidance and best practice to schools on developing new approaches to assessment and reporting.

Even though levels have been removed, statutory assessments at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2 remain, as does the requirement on schools to report annually to parents on their child’s achievements and progress.