Thank you mrz for in the thread titled: Does lack of levels mean poor progress shrouded? This is not, however, a TAAT.
It seems that Tim Oates (currently on the Cambridge Assessment Executive Board and previously of the QCA) had some very interesting things to say about why levels were bad and therefore required scrapping:-
1. Children negatively label themselves using levels. Of course children are completely incapable of knowing who finds subjects easy or hard without those bad old levels, so that's a quick win as self esteem will soar without levels. Never mind those new terms, below national standard or working towards national standard.
Win one.
2. Levels encourage undue pace to achieve maximum progress. In the past, with levels, children were apparently moved on without a deep, secure understanding. The new curriculum is a fundamental change due to teaching fewer things in greater depth, along with teachers ensuring children are ready to move on.
Of course any previous issues of undue pace and a lack of secure understanding was, most definitely, the fault of levels. Extra efficiency has been assured by issuing the new performance descriptors, which set out what pupils must achieve, i.e. the "national standard", without waiting to see what most pupils achieve after a reasonable period of being taught the new curriculum.
Do not dwell on the fact that the new curriculum has many things that were being taught to older children now being taught to younger children . This will not be the same as undue pace to achieve maximum progress because children will be taught at much greater depth.
Double win!
3. Levels are an 'odd idea'.
a) because test scores have low validity. This has been dealt with in the new curriculum by scoring the new tests differently which will ensure their greater validity.
b) APP was flawed due to being a best match, so that children were moved on before all concepts were understood. Teachers, you know it's true, and if you couldn't understand those bamboozling levels, what hope did us dim witted parents have?
c) Thresholds. Children could achieve L4 by being just in L4! This, of course, was the fault of levels and had nothing to do with where the threshold was set. It is good to know that there are no thresholds in the new national curriculum or the performance descriptors. The terms below national standard, working towards national standard, national standard and mastery, are in no way synonymous with thresholds. Just like the scaled score of the new tests - no thresholds there either.
Triple winneroo!!!
4. Other nations, that perform so much better than the UK in PISA, don't have levels. Whatever they use, it's not levels, nor anything like levels and therefore we can all see that previous poor performance in PISA was caused by those pesky, bamboozling levels.
Grand Slam!!!!
A final message to teachers from Tim:
You need to assess more, much more.
But differently, because in the past there has not been enough assessment of the right kind.
Previously you have not had to be experts in assessment - but now you need to be in a way you haven't been before. You need to think hard and choose questions that probe your pupils to see if they have really understood an item or body of knowledge you are teaching. What is required is rich Q&A that probes the knowledge of your pupils; along with probing and supportive learning.
Although you don't need to think that hard because there are hundreds of GCSE questions which you can use with kids of all ages even very young ones. These questions can be used to support learning and to assess whether your pupils have understood the ideas you are teaching.
And this is a really important and new approach.
End of Tim's message.
So whilst I brush the pile of egg shells away, let me hear you say hallelujah.
Our children are saved by the scrapping of levels. Watch us rise through PISA by deep, secure understanding, plenty of probing, no levels (stop using the old levels until you have new levels, there are to be no new levels (apart from those documents being created that look remarkably like old style APP grids but populated with the new curriculum)) and get searching for those old GCSE questions - our primary kids are ready!
Caveats:
This post précises excerpts of the video for effect.
This post is ironic and tongue in cheek at multiple points - I trust you can tell which points.
I apologise for the length of my post, but, given the content of the video, I just wanted to get it all out.
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Tim Oates, the reasons for scrapping levels: AIBU to think this is a load of patronising doublespeak?
41 replies
diamondage · 09/12/2014 12:18
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