The main function of the P1 Practitioner Forum is to share experiences and offer advice to the Scottish government, independent bodies such as Education Scotland, local authorities, schools and teachers in:

• Early level curriculum planning and assessment
• The use of standardised assessments within the context of play-based learning

Debate in the Forum is informed by the experiences of P1 practitioners, by presentations from researchers and academic knowledge brokers and by the views of key stakeholder groups.

Membership of the Forum was by invitation through local authority and stakeholder networks, with an emphasis on ensuring representation of professionals with practical experience of teaching P1, and of administering, managing and using Scottish National Standardised Assessment (SNSA) data. The membership profile reflects a range of initial views of the value of SNSA and experience in education:

Explore this exemplar

This resource supports the administration of the assessments by sharing practical advice and suggestions on implementing the assessments in ways that are appropriate to young learners.

What was done?

Four meetings of the Forum in total:

• December 10th 2018: The nature and implementation of Scotland's standardised assessment in P1 (see Downloads).
• January 14th 2019: Can SNSA data feed a holistic, inclusive, play-based curriculum? (See Downloads).
• February 4th 2019: Classroom assessment environments and management (see Downloads).
• March 11th 2019: Recommendations of the Forum (see Downloads).

The Forum is committed to transparent procedures. Meeting agendas and presentations are published on this website, along with summaries of members' views gathered at the end of each meeting. The output of the Forum is a formal report, submitted in April 2019.

Why?

Educators and some charities and professional groups have requested clarification over: the implementation and design of the SNSA for children in P1 classes, its fit to Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) and to play-based approaches to teaching and learning literacy and numeracy in P1.

What was the impact?

The first meeting set the purpose of the Forum within the context of CfE assessment and provided members with an opportunity to share experiences and explore issues relating to the rationale behind the SNSAs and their role as a diagnostic tool to help inform teachers' professional judgement.

The Forum is designed to offer recommendations and information to user and policy groups which may or may not make a direct impact on practice.

How to use this exemplar

Please see the downloads section below to find out about any meeting of the P1 Practitioner Forum.

Improvement questions

• How will schools modify their administration of the P1 SNSAs in the light of the forum’s reflections?
• How are practitioners ensuring that the needs of all children are being met when delivering SNSA?
• How effectively is the diagnostic information of SNSA being used to develop targeted interventions at points of transition?
• How do practitioners ensure that SNSA is being used diagnostically, as one part of the wider assessment and moderation picture?

Videos

Meeting 1

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Meeting 2

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Meeting 3

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Meeting 4

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Download(s)

Continuation of P1 Practitioner Forum – A/Y 18/19 – Meeting 1 – University of Strathclyde

PDF file: SNSA Meeting - Agenda 07/10/19 (121 KB)

PDF file: Welcome to the Forum - Sue Ellis (1.2 MB)

PDF file: Scottish Government update on National Standardised Assessments (1.7 MB)

PDF file: Introduction to SNSA Course 1 for P1 (640 KB)

Zipped file: All documents from P1 Practitioner Forum Meeting 07/10/2019 (3.8 MB)

Meetings 2018

PDF file: Profile of Forum Membership (136 KB)

PDF file: Remit of Forum (122 KB)

PDF file: Meeting 1 Agenda 10/12/18 (289 KB)

PDF file: Meeting 1 Background to SNSA - Helen Claydon (505 KB)

PDF file: Meeting 1 What are assessment data good for? - Professor Gemma Moss (122 KB)

PDF file: Meeting 1 Notes 10/12/18 (209 KB)

PDF: Meeting 1 Recommendations 10/12/18 (214 KB)

Zipped file: All documents from P1 Practitioner Forum Meeting 10/12/2018 (1.3 MB)

Meetings 2019

PDF file: Meeting 2 Agenda 14/01/19 (314 KB)

PDF: Meeting 2 User Review Process - David Leng (633 KB)

PDF file: Meeting 2 Play-based Learning - Dr Lynn McNair (2.2 MB)

PDF file: Meeting 2 Background to SNSA 2 - Juliette Mendelovits (1.1 MB)

PDF file: Meeting 2 Notes 14/01/19 (111 KB)

PDF: Meeting 2 Practitioner responses 14/01/19 (385 KB)

Zipped file: All documents from P1 Practitioner Forum Meeting 14/01/2019 (4.7 MB)

PDF file: Meeting 3 Agenda 04/02/19 (117 KB)

PDF file: Meeting 3 Organising the SNSA - Gayle MacDonald (535 KB)

PDF file: Meeting 3 Writing in the P1 Literacy Assessment - Juliette Mendelovits (1.0 MB)

Zipped file: All documents from P1 Practitioner Forum Meeting 04/02/2019 (420 KB)

PDF file: Meeting 4 Agenda 11/03/19 (141 KB)

PDF file: Meeting 4 EIS presentation - Andrea Bradley (748 KB)

PDF file: Meeting 4 Early Years Scotland presentation - Jean Carwood-Edwards (1.2 MB)

PDF file: Meeting 4 P1 Assessment - Aline-Wendy Dunlop (1.1 MB)

PDF file: Meeting 4 Ethics of data-use - Sue Ellis (254 KB)

Zipped file: All documents from P1 Practitioner Forum Meeting 11/03/2019 (3.5 MB)