What is the National Improvement Framework?

The National Improvement Framework will make sure that every child will have information about how they are progressing, teachers will have a clear understanding of the improvements required, and parents will have meaningful information about how their child is progressing.

The introduction of national standardised assessments is not about narrowing the curriculum or forcing teachers to “teach to a test”. Nicola Sturgeon has been clear that it is not a return to the national testing of old, and there is no desire to return to league tables. The new national assessments have been developed in partnership with local government, teachers and parents. They provide evidence of a child’s performance or progress – but they will not be the sole measurement.

The Scottish Government has now published a review of the first year of standardised assessments. The review found that, during the first year of implementation, children on the whole rated the assessments as ‘accessible and stimulating’ while teachers were ‘very pleased’ with the information the assessments provided.