Primary Curricculum and Assessment

In summary, formal assessment in England, compared to our review countries, is pervasive, highly consequential, and taken by officialdom to portray objectively the actual quality of primary education in schools. Wales and Northern Ireland have significantly tempered their emphasis on testing in recent reforms such that they are now (along with Scotland) as different from England as are other European countries. What distinguishes assessment policy in England then is the degree to which it is used as a tool a) to control what is taught, b) to police how well it is taught, and c) to encourage parents to use assessment information to select schools for their children.

Such is a conclusion from the Academic primary review.

With that degree of control, the government must accept direct and virtually total responsibility for results. They cannot blame teachers or parents for any failing because they have not allowed them room to decide and apply their own solutions.