The move, announced last week by Scottish education minister Jack McConnell, is set to result in pre-schools and primary schools across Scotland using a standard recording procedure. At present, all local authorities use their own systems for recording children's progress at the end of pre-school and passing the information on to the primary school in order to avoid the problem of the 'fresh start', where the child starts school and staff have no idea of how much he or she has already learned.
A Scottish Executive spokeswoman said most systems were based on the teacher assessing a child's progress by observation, although some schools had opted to test children in Primary One, which was not a direction the Executive wished to pursue.
'We are not going to move from observation to testing,' she said. 'We are looking at a more uniform system, but what we do will be in consultation with councils. We will probably move to one system that's the same across the country, leaving a degree of flexibility.'
In the late 1990s the Scottish Executive piloted a system of 'transition notes' to collect information about children at the end of pre-school and pass it on to primary school. This involved pre-five settings completing a standard form which gave a 'snapshot' of each child and passing it on to the primary school in June. Primary schools then discussed the information contained in the form with the child's parents in September, and carried out an evaluation of the child in the second term of Primary One, based on the teacher's classroom observation and professional judgement.
Staff involved in the pilot were generally happy with the process, especially as it covered all areas of children's learning. including personal and social development. However, some local authorities have not adopted this procedure and those who have taken it on have adapted and customised it, so that practice varies widely across the country.
Announcing the Executive's intention to streamline methods of evaluating children's attainment into a single system, Mr McConnell said, 'Effective assessment is vital if we are to improve learning and teaching in the classrooms of the future. It promotes learning and helps all our children achieve their full potential in every way.
'Information about how a pupil is progressing should be clear, succinct and readily understood by everyone. It is crucial that we not only simplify the system, but also reduce the burden for teachers and ensure that what is produced is more useful for parents.'
Mr McConnell's announcement follows England's decision to introduce a standardised national system of assessing children at the end of the Foundation Stage (News, 20 September).
