Statutory Rule 1996 No. 364

Education (Assessment Arrangements for Key Stage 3) Order (Northern Ireland) 1996

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© Crown Copyright 1996

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1996 No. 364

EDUCATION

Education (Assessment Arrangements for Key Stage 3) 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.—(1)  This Order may be cited as the Education (Assessment Arrangements for Key Stage 3) Order (Northern Ireland) 1996 and, subject to paragraph (2), shall come into operation on 1st September 1996.

    (2)  This Order shall not take effect until 1st August 1997 insofar as it applies to pupils who are in an Irish speaking school.

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 third year of the third 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 1986 Order 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 an Order listed in Part 1 of the Schedule;


"the Assessment Document" means the document published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office entitled "Assessment Arrangements" in Key Stage 3^[2];


"the Council" means the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment^[3];


"level descriptions" in relation to an attainment target specified for a relevant subject means the levels set out in the Document published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office in respect of that subject and listed in Part 2 of the Schedule;


"relevant subject" means English, Mathematics or Science;


"the 1986 Order" means the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986^[4];


"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 paragraph (2) to be carried out in accordance with the provisions of this Order.

    (2)  Each pupil shall be assessed in English, Mathematics and Science at or near the end of the third key stage for the purpose of ascertaining what he has achieved in relation to the attainment targets 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 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 the assessment units specified in the Assessment Document in relation to the third 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).

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 in accordance with the arrangements 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 third year of the third key stage achieving each level of attainment; and


(c)  the percentage of all pupils in Northern Ireland in the third year of the third key stage achieving each level of attainment.

    (2)  Subject to Article 10, a pupil's subject level in English and Mathematics 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 a pupil's subject level in Science shall be determined by weighting the levels in each attainment target in the following ratio—

Experimental and investigative science	Living organisms and life processes	Materials and their uses	Physical processes
3:	2:	2:	2



    (3)  Where the average calculated under paragraph (2) 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.

External tests
    9.—(1)  Subject to Article 10(4) and (5) it shall be the duty of the principal of the school to make arrangements for each pupil to take tests set by the Council in each relevant subject at a date and time and in accordance with arrangements specified in the Assessment Document.

    (2)  The Council shall make arrangements for the tests to be marked and shall, by a date specified in the Assessment Document, 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 third year of the third key stage achieving each level of attainment; and


(c)  the percentage of all pupils in Northern Ireland at the third key stage achieving each level of attainment.

Exemptions
    10.—(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.

    (4)  Article 9 shall not require a pupil, in respect of whom a board is maintaining a statement of special educational needs under Article 31 of the 1986 Order 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 moderate learning difficulties, to take a test in a relevant subject.

    (5)  Article 9 shall not require a pupil to take a test in a relevant subject if the pupil's level of attainment in that subject, determined under Article 5, is below the level description specified for level 3 in relation to that subject.

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

L.S.
C. Jendoubi

Assistant Secretary

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

[2] ISBN 0 337 04309 4 back

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

[4] S.I. 1986/594 (N.I. 3) back

Explanatory Note