4.2.2 Assessment

4.2.2 Assessment

Assessment continues to be a challenge in many primary schools and special schools

Inspection findings from this period indicate that there is a considerable need to develop assessment practices in primary schools and special schools. Schools received a quality rating for assessment of good or very good in 44% of unannounced inspections and 66% of announced inspections respectively (Table 4.8). However, the quality of assessment was just satisfactory in a substantial proportion of both unannounced (43%) and announced inspections (28%). The quality of assessment was less than satisfactory in 13% of unannounced inspections and 6% of announced inspections.

Table 4.8: Quality of assessment in primary schools and special schools: September 2016 - December 2020

Quality of assessment	Unannounced inspections	Announced inspections
Very good	5.8%	11.5%
Good	37.8%	54.1%
Satisfactory	43.0%	28.1%
Fair	11.6%	6.0%
Weak	1.8%	0.3%

Source: Inspectorate, Department of Education Assessment data needs to be used more effectively to inform teaching and learning

Summative assessments, including standardised tests, can help schools to evaluate pupils’ progress and pinpoint areas for improvement. The assessment data can also support teachers in ensuring that learning experiences meet pupils’ needs. Effective summative assessment is just one component in supporting learning at both classroom and whole-school level. It is important to use a range of assessment information when making decisions about a child’s progress and achievement. Information from ability tests, teacher observations and parental reports, as well as the views of the pupils, are also very important aspects of a thorough assessment and should complement data from summative assessment, such as standardised test scores.66

Inspection findings during the period to which this report refers indicate that the use of summative assessment approaches, where individual teachers used a broad range of strategies to provide evidence of learning at specific points in the school year, was well established. It was evident, however, that the recording and communication to parents of assessment information about pupils’ development and achievement, other than standardised test information, was inconsistent. Inspection findings also indicate that the use of assessment information to inform provision for the varying abilities of pupils was less well developed. In this regard, the value of using assessment information to guide the next steps in learning, to build on pupils’ strengths, interests and dispositions and to plan further group and individual learning programmes was highlighted.

66 National Council for Curriculum and Assessment Primary: Assessment-Standardised Testing. Available at: https://ncca.ie/en/ resources/standardised-testing/

Pupils require further opportunities to reflect on their progress as learners

The previous Chief Inspector’s Report (2016) highlighted the need to provide enhanced opportunities for pupils to reflect on their learning. However, pupils’ responses to surveys67 in the September 2016 to December 2020 period indicate that there has been little progress in respect of this recommendation. There is still a need for teachers to discuss with the children in their class how best to improve their learning. For example, in their responses to Inspectorate surveys during the period to which this report refers, 79% of pupils reported that they were doing well with reading while 18% reported that they did not know. These findings are similar to the last Chief Inspector’s Report (2016) (81% and 16% respectively) and suggest that teachers need to communicate more effectively with children regarding their strengths and where they need to improve. It is also vital that schools develop strategies to capture pupils’ opinions on how they learn best and on what makes learning interesting for them.

Figure from page 113

67 Surveys are administered as part of certain evaluations.