Statutory Rule 1996 No. 363

Education (Assessment Arrangements for Key Stages 1 and 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 1996

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© Crown Copyright 1996

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1996 No. 363

EDUCATION

Education (Assessment Arrangements for Key Stages 1 and 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 1996

The Department of Education, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by Article 7(1)(b), (2)(a)(ii) and (6) of the Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 1989^[1] and of every other power enabling it in that behalf, hereby makes the following Order:

Citation and commencement
    1.    This Order may be cited as the Education (Assessment Arrangements for Key Stages 1 and 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 1996 and shall come into operation on 1st September 1996.

Application
    2.—(1)  Subject to paragraph (2) the provisions of this Order shall apply in respect of pupils in grant-aided schools who are in the fourth year of the first key stage and the third year of the second key stage.

    (2)  This Order shall not have effect in relation to a pupil in respect of whom a board is maintaining a statement of special educational needs under Article 31 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986^[2] and who, on the making of an assessment of his special educational needs, has been assessed by that board under Article 29 of that Order as having severe learning difficulties.

Interpretation
    3.    In this Order—
"assessment unit" means a piece of work, provided by the Council, to be carried out by a pupil for the purpose of assisting a teacher to ascertain what the pupil has achieved in relation to one or more attainment targets in a relevant subject;


"attainment target" means an attainment target in a relevant subject specified in the Curriculum (Programmes of Study and Attainment Targets at Key Stages 1 and 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 1996^[3];


"the Council" means the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment^[4];


"the Assessment Document" means the document published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office entitled "Assessment Arrangements in Key Stages 1 and 2"^[5];


"relevant subject" means—


(a)  subject to paragraph (b), English or Mathematics;


(b)  in relation to a pupil who is in an Irish speaking school, English, Irish or Mathematics;


"the 1989 Order" means the Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 1989.

Duty to carry out assessment
    4.—(1)  It shall be the duty of the principal of the school to make arrangements for an assessment of each pupil's attainment in the relevant subjects specified in paragraphs (2) and (3) to be carried out in accordance with the provisions of this Order.

    (2)  Subject to paragraph (3), each pupil shall be assessed in English and Mathematics for the purpose of ascertaining what he has achieved in relation to the attainment targets—


(a)  at or near the end of the first key stage, for that key stage; and


(b)  at or near the end of the second key stage, for that key stage.

    (3)  Where a pupil is in an Irish speaking school he shall be assessed for the purpose of ascertaining what he has achieved in relation to the attainment targets—


(a)  in Irish and Mathematics at or near the end of the first key stage, for that key stage; and


(b)  in English, Irish and Mathematics at or near the end of the second key stage, for that key stage.

Assessment by teachers
    5.—(1)  In relation to each relevant subject, each pupil shall be assessed by a teacher in accordance with this Article in the period commencing on 1st January of the year in which the pupil is due to complete—


(a)  the first key stage; or


(b)  the second key stage;
and ending on a date in the same school year specified in the Assessment Document (both dates inclusive) and a record of the results shall be made by that teacher not later than a date specified in the Assessment Document.

    (2)  Subject to paragraph (5) the teacher shall determine each pupil's level of attainment achieved in relation to each attainment target in each relevant subject by reference to the level descriptions for each attainment target specified for that subject.

    (3)  The teacher shall administer to each pupil at each key stage the assessment units specified in the Assessment Document in relation to that key stage during the period mentioned in paragraph (1) and shall mark the assessment units in accordance with a marking scheme provided by the Council.

    (4)  The record of results made under paragraph (1) for each pupil shall consist of a statement of the level of attainment achieved in relation to each attainment target as determined under paragraph (2) and a statement of the level of attainment achieved consequent upon the marking of assessment units under paragraph (3).

    (5)  In making an assessment of a pupil under this Article a teacher shall take into account the results of assessment units taken by that pupil under paragraph (3) and may also take into account the results of any other assessment units taken by that pupil other than those taken under that paragraph and any previous assessment of that pupil (whether or not made by that teacher).

    (6)  In this Article "level descriptions" means the levels set out in the Document published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office entitled "The Northern Ireland Curriculum Key Stages 1 and 2, Programmes of Study and Attainment Targets"^[6] in relation to the attainment targets specified under the Curriculum (Programmes of Study and Attainment Targets at Key Stages 1 and 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 1996.

Information to be provided to the Council
    6.    It shall be the duty of the principal of the school, in respect of each pupil, to send notification to the Council comprising the information, in the form and by the dates, specified in the Assessment Document.

Calculation of pupils' levels of attainment
    7.—(1)  Subject to paragraph (2) each pupil's level of attainment in each relevant subject shall be calculated as specified in the Assessment Document and the Council shall send notification to the school comprising the following information—


(a)  each pupil's subject level;


(b)  the percentage of pupils at the school in the fourth year of the first key stage and in the third year of the second key stage achieving each level of attainment; and


(c)  the percentage of all pupils in Northern Ireland in each of the years specified in sub-paragraph (b) achieving each level of attainment.

    (2)  Subject to Article 9, a pupil's subject level in a relevant subject shall be the average of his level of attainment achieved in relation to all the attainment targets for that subject determined under Article 5(2) and where the average calculated is not a whole number it shall be rounded to the nearest whole number, the fraction of one half being rounded upwards to the next whole number.

Arrangements for review
    8.—(1)  The Council shall set in place arrangements to review the information sent to the Council under Article 6.

    (2)  The Council shall set in place the arrangements specified in the Assessment Document—


(a)  to determine whether the standards of assessment in a school are appropriate; and


(b)  to review the marking of assessment units.

Exemptions
    9.—(1)  Where, under Articles 14 (development work and experiments), 15 (exceptions by regulations), 16 (pupils with statements of special educational needs) or 17 (temporary exceptions for individual pupils) of the 1989 Order, a pupil has been exempted from one or more attainment targets in a relevant subject that pupil shall be assessed by a teacher in accordance with Article 5 only in relation to the remaining attainment targets in that subject and where a pupil has been exempted from a relevant subject as a whole Article 4 shall not apply in respect of that subject.

    (2)  Where a pupil has been exempted as described in paragraph (1) from one attainment target in a relevant subject his level of attainment achieved in relation to that subject shall be the average of his levels of attainment achieved in relation to the remaining attainment targets in that subject.

    (3)  Where a pupil has been exempted as described in paragraph (1) from two or more attainment targets in a relevant subject a level of attainment shall not be determined for that pupil in that subject and the school shall notify the Council accordingly.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Education
on 6th August 1996.

L.S.
C. Jendoubi

Assistant Secretary

This Order prescribes the arrangements for the assessment of pupils in English and Mathematics in key stages 1 and 2, and, in Irish speaking schools, the arrangements for assessment in Irish and Mathematics in key stage 1 and Irish, English and Mathematics in key stage 2. The Order comes into operation on 1st September 1996.

The Order applies to pupils in grant-aided schools who are in the fourth year of the first key stage and the third year of the second key stage, but does not apply to pupils who have been assessed by an education and library board as having severe learning difficulties. (Article 2).

Article 4 places a duty on principals to make arrangements for the carrying out of the assessment of pupils and Article 5 requires such assessments to be carried out between 1st January of the year in which a pupil is due to complete the first key stage or second key stage and a date later in that school year specified in a document, entitled "Assessment Arrangements in Key Stages 1 and 2" and referred to in the Order as the Assessment Document, published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO), 16 Arthur Street, Belfast, BT1 4GD. Teachers are required to determine each pupil's level of attainment in each attainment target in each assessed subject, taking account of the results of assessment units taken by each pupil, and to make a record of those results.

Article 6 requires school principals to notify the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (the Council) of those results and Article 7 requires each pupil's subject levels to be calculated and requires the Council to notify the schools of those levels and certain other information.

Article 8 requires the Council to set in place arrangements to determine whether standards of assessment in a school are appropriate and to review the information sent to it by schools and the schools' marking of assessment units.

Article 9 provides for exemptions in relation to attainment targets in specified circumstances.

The Order also provides for matters of detail of the assessment arrangements to be specified in the Assessment Document. The matters to be set out in this Document will include the assessment units to be administered in each subject (Article 5), the arrangements for the submission of information to the Council (Article 6) and the arrangements for the review of assessments (Article 8).

[1] S.I. 1989/2406 (N.I. 20) as amended by S.I. 1996/274 (N.I. 1) Article 35(2) back

[2] S.I. 1986/594 (N.I. 3) back

[3] S.R. 1996 No. 346 back

[4] Established under S.I. 1989/2406 (N.I. 20) Article 17A as inserted by S.I. 1993/2810 (N.I. 12) Article 34 back

[5] ISBN 0 337 04308 6 back

[6] ISBN 0 337 04290 X back