Assessing Primary PE has always been a highly debated subject. There are many diverse views from teachers, Headteachers, government and Ofsted. There are often more questions than answers; How? When? How often? When it comes to assessment in PE what should we be commenting on and feeding back to pupils?
The National Curriculum - Assessing Primary PE
The new 2014 PE curriculum for England states that “By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study” and Ofsted are primarily looking for pupil achievement in PE; ‘achievement’ meaning a combination of attainment and progress. As there are no specific attainment targets in PE, any assessment needs to take into consideration what pupils can ‘do’ and record the progress they made over a specific time period or programme of study.
Recording progress
It is not useful when recording achievement to simply tick a box which says ‘Pupil A can perform a log roll showing body tension’ without some comment on when this was achieved. Pupil A may have been able to perform a log roll before they started the unit of work. Therefore this attainment statement does not reflect any progress…and progress is the key to achievement. There is no magic bullet for assessment in physical education, but it shouldn’t be overly complicated or time-consuming. Assessing pupils at 3 points throughout the year is realistic and also provides enough opportunity for pupils to spend time exploring an activity area and being able to make meaningful progress.
The TES has many useful assessment resources and includes members’ comments on their experiences and links to further reading. Below are some ideas you may wish to include in any assessment you devise fit with the new curriculum:
- Keep it simple – many skills and processes overlap activity areas, don’t reinvent the wheel for every sport and activity area
- Make it visual so it is quick and easy to see how pupils are performing
- Focus on progress made rather than attainment statements
- Link to assessment for learning – the old ‘core tasks’ were great for this. Assessment for learning will help you establish a ‘starting point’ for each new programme of study and allow you to reassess throughout or at the end of the unit.
- Don’t over assess; choose three realistic times throughout the year that you can stop and make some meaningful observations of your pupils.
- Celebrate progress, attainment and effort equally because all are required to make physically literate children.