Personalised learning and progress measures

The review team on personalised learning, which included two ASCL members, produced the concise, punchy 2020 Vision report in January, which contains many challenges for schools. Members are encouraged to get a copy from www.teachernet.gov.uk

Personalising learning is, as we all know, a challenging agenda for schools, but it is one that ASCL has supported and the report builds on the work done by ASCL and SSAT in the series of conferences and publications with Professor David Hargreaves from 2004 to 2006.

There are some funding-related issues, such as learning guides, that ASCL representatives will raise within the School Funding Implementation Group.

ASCL also welcomed the announcement in January by the Secretary of State of a consultation on progress measures. It represents a much more intelligent form of accountability than the performance indicator of five A to C grade passes, which takes no account of the interests of most pupils and creates the perverse incentive to concentrate on students at the borderline. 

Under the proposed scheme, schools will be judged by the amount of progress made by each of its pupils. There will be much to discuss in the detail of the proposal - in particular the proposed measure at key stage 4 is not sensible and needs to be changed -  but we are pleased to see this moving very much in the direction of ASCL policy.