Assessment and Progression
Assessment is a topic which often generates more heat than light, especially at Key Stage 3. In many ways, for all that has been written on the topic, things haven’t improved much over the past two decades.
This is certainly true of primary history where it occurs as a weakness in virtually every OFSTED annual report. The most recent described it as being good in only one-quarter of primary schools!! At Key Stage 3 assessment remains one of those items on the Subject Improvement Plan that never seems to be ticked off as done. QCA has recognized this and is pouring even more resources into projects to create online exemplification.
Sinking of the Titanic – assessment task – looking at consequences and change
This task asks pupils to consider consequences of the disaster and changes over time arising from it Assessment task and…
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Florence Nightingale – assessment task
Focus: Change and significance This task offers pupils 3 carefully chose images to support their understanding of the achievements of…
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Amy Johnson – assessment task – Can you explain why Amy Johnson was so important?
The children are given the task sheet containing three pictures and the question. Each has been included for a particular…
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Toys; old and new – assessment task
Focus concept: Making deductions/ similarity and difference This task is designed to be non-threatening and to be carried out in…
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Scott of the Antractic – assessment task Y2
Focus concept: Causation The first task serves as a more gentle introduction to the idea of cause by looking at…
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Mary Seacole – Assessment task – Assessing pupils’ understanding of the work of Mary Seacole
Target concepts: characteristic features of the period and significance This task is designed to elicit pupils’ understanding of the contribution…
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Common assessment tasks in history at KS1
It is often difficult knowing how to assess pupils’ historical thinking at KS1. Are we simply testing literacy and /or…
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Judging pupils’ work in history at KS 1
This section of the site offers a few words of advice about assessing individual pieces of work and provides commentaries…
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Principles of good assessment in history at Key Stage 1
Assessment in Foundation subjects is not well-developed, and is nearly always found wanting in successive OFSTED reports. When assessment in…
Read MoreProgression in history at Key Stage 1 by Skill / Concept
The problem Trying to secure progression within your Key Stage 1 history curriculum is not always as easy as it…
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What would your pupils say about getting better at history, when they leave your school?
Recently two university education departments carried out a broad-sweep survey of primary pupils’ experience of history at KS1 and 2…
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I’m a new subject leader. How do I know if pupils are making the progress they should in history?
Getting a handle on progression is complicated. There are lots of superficially appealing lists of competencies that link to each…
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KS1 pupils’ work on Great Fire and Florence Nightingale assessed
You have told us that you need more help on assessment at KS1. So we have now gone beyond principles,…
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APP in history: where are we now? Some key questions answered
APP in history: where are we now? Life after levels This section is no longer current, of course, so please…
Read MoreAssessment for learning in Primary history
Assessment for Learning is much vaunted and many faceted. If we break down what it means in its constituent parts,…
Read MoreTarget setting in history at Key Stage 1
The setting of targets with this age group for Foundation subjects is problematic., not least because pupils’ experience of history…
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Progression in history at Key Stage 1
The problem Trying to secure progression within your Key Stage 1 history curriculum is not always as easy as it…
Read MoreGeneral advice regarding progression in history at Key Stage 1
This section outlines the key indicators of progression. The other section looks at each strand in detail. We all need to…
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