Assessments 5-14

Research and Information Services Assessments 5-14 Masthead Pt1 Research and Information Services Masthead Pt2

 


The 5-14 team is part of the RIS business area within SQA and carries out a range of tasks for the Scottish Government as part of the Government’s Assessment is for Learning (AifL) programme which focuses on improving assessment practice in schools at the primary and early secondary stages. AifL seeks to develop a streamlined and coherent system of assessment for Scottish schools that will support learning and ensure that parents, teachers and other professionals have the feedback they need on pupils' learning and development needs.  Find out more about AifL by following the link below:

Within this important initiative, SQA involvement is related principally to two projects: the annual Scottish Survey of Achievement (SSA) and the 5-14 National Assessment Bank. 

The SSA was introduced in 2005 as the government’s main policy initiative for monitoring pupil attainment within the 5-14 age range at both local authority and national level. The SSA replaced the more limited Assessment of Achievement Programme (AAP). The aim of SSA is to report on areas of the curriculum and on the core skills of literacy, numeracy, problem solving, ICT and working with others. Core skills are assessed within the subject context of the curriculum area of a particular year. 

The first SSA, in 2005, focused on English language and was followed in 2006 by Social Subjects Enquiry Skills. Science was the main subject focus of the 2007 survey followed by Mathematics in 2008, after which the four year cycle begins again. SSA takes place in late April/May with the main findings published by SEED around eight months later.  Find out more about the SSA by following the link below:

Assessments used in the SSA are made more generally available through the National Assessment Bank. At present this applies to reading, writing and mathematics assessments only, but is likely to be extended to other areas in the future. The 5-14 National Assessment Bank is an online facility which allows teachers to download assessment tasks for use in the classroom. The 5-14 National Assessment Bank also includes reading, writing and numeracy tasks in the medium of Gaelic.