Northern Ireland

Monitoring Student Progress in Mathematics and Science

Statutory assessment requirements apply from the start of the Foundation Stage to the end of Key Stage 3 in each area of learning and each cross-curricular skill.²⁶ The legislative framework for student assessment is provided by the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 2006.

Statutory assessment takes the form of teacher assessment. In the Foundation Stage (Years 1 and 2), the manner of assessment is determined by the school. From Year 3, assessment of cross-curricular skills (CCS) must be carried out using Levels of Progression. Levels of Progression are ‘can do’ statements that set out a continuum of skills that students should be able to demonstrate and that will help them to function effectively in life and in the world of work.

Statutory assessment requires teachers to make summative assessments at the end of Key Stages 1, 2, and 3. Teachers’ judgments are supported by assessment tasks and a system of external moderation. Outcomes are reported to parents and the Department of Education using numerical levels.

In primary education, the summative assessments administered at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2 constitute the primary measure of educational achievement. They enable schools to benchmark themselves against an average for Northern Ireland, they are used to inform school inspections, and they are used as a system-level performance indicator. However, they are not used as part of the process of student progression to the next stage of education.

In post-primary schools (which provide secondary education), CCS are assessed using the Levels of Progression through the end of Key Stage 3. However, the key measures for both student progression and school and system accountability are the external qualifications taken at ages 16 and 18 (typically GCSEs and GCE A levels, respectively).

In addition to summative assessments, primary schools are expected to carry out diagnostic assessments of literacy and mathematics in the autumn term of Years 4, 5, 6, and 7. Schools may use an assessment or assessments of their choice. The Department of Education provides computer-based standardized assessments delivered by external organizations for this purpose (e.g., the Northern Ireland Numeracy Assessment, or NINA, for mathematics). These tests are intended to support schools in identifying the strengths and diagnosing the learning needs of individual children; outcomes are not collected centrally. Numeracy skills are tested across two strands: understanding and using number; and shape and space, measures, and handling data.

Although these tests are optional for schools, and have been optional since autumn 2013, they were mandatory in autumn 2012, when students assessed in TIMSS 2015 were in Year 4. The ministerial decision to change the status of the tests from mandatory to optional was a response to considerable challenges in the implementation of the tests. Work is ongoing on the longer term policy review of computer-based assessment.²⁷ Additional test materials, including standardized tests, are available from commercial publishers, and schools may choose to use these to supplement the assessments outlined above.

In addition to assessment at school, many parents with children in the final year of primary education elect for their children to take tests for admission to academically selective post-primary schools. In 2009, the Department of Education withdrew its support for this process, and it remains ministerial policy that transfer to secondary education should be based on nonacademic criteria. However, the law does not prohibit schools from admitting students on the basis of academic performance, and a number of schools continue to do so, using unregulated tests. The tests focus on English and mathematics and are based on the content of the Northern Ireland curriculum in these subjects.²⁸

Exhibit 2 provides an overview of the use of assessment in mathematics and science in Year 1 to Year 10.

Exhibit 2: Assessment in Mathematics and Science in Northern Ireland, Years 1–10