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Remember Pavlov? He’s the guy who conditioned dogs to respond with a saliva reflex to the sound of bell.

At first, the dogs would be given a nice juicy piece of meat each time the bell rang, until eventually, the neural pathway was strong enough that the dogs would salivate at the idea of being fed even when the piece of meat was then withheld.

Obviously, as humans we’re a bit brighter than your average dog. But that doesn’t mean we don’t respond to conditioning – particularly when fear is involved. For many years now you’ve been expected, as teachers, to take a data-led approach to assessment. To give each child a number and to measure their progress as their evolution between these numbers.

A failure to keep track of, and to report on children’s attainment using these numbers would result in a less-than-glowing appraisal of your school’s performance from Ofsted.

So, while the DfE has long been clear that Levels are finished and that schools are free to develop their own systems of assessment and reporting, so strong is the conditioning that many schools have had difficulty believing in this freedom and letting go of the old regime.

Even those wanting to engage found themselves in a vacuum of information and direction. For pressured Heads and senior leaders with a mountain of things on their plate already, the whole area of assessment must have seemed like a ticking time-bomb that they didn’t have the manual or the time to defuse.

The Commission on Assessment without Levels was therefore set up to provide guidance to schools on creating their own assessment policies, and to help them through a time of ‘radical cultural and pedagogical change’ (to borrow from John McIntosh’s foreward to the commission’s final report).

What it does do, is provide a manifesto for high-quality, meaningful assessment that offers guidance to schools to help them develop their own policies.

However, if any schools were hoping for an off-the-peg solution to assessment or a replacement set of levels fitted to the new curriculum, the commission’s final report does not deliver.

It provides no templates, and prescribes no specific content for a school’s assessment policy. What it does do, is provide a manifesto for high-quality, meaningful assessment that offers guidance to schools to help them develop their own policies.

The detail is of course available within the report itself, but the overall message is that formative assessment is crucial; that acting upon assessment is far more important than recording it, and that schools ought not to be driven by expectations of what they think Ofsted inspectors are looking for. (The latest Common Inspection Framework plainly states that they are not looking for a particular approach).

The report also identifies what needs to happen in order for schools to feel completely comfortable and secure about their assessment policies. To be able, in short, to let go of the old way of thinking without fear of reprisal.

This includes a greater focus on assessment as part of initial teacher training, training for school leaders and Ofsted inspectors around the principles and purposes of assessment, and what best-practice looks like.

Does this mean the demise of summative assessment? Not at all. The report recognises that summative tests are a useful means of evaluation pupils’ learning and progress at the end of a period of teaching.

It’s important, however, that the data is not an end in itself, but is a way of a way of getting information that supports pupils' progress and attainment to help you tailor your teaching accordingly.

It follows therefore, that when you’re creating, or looking for ready-made summative assessment resources, you need to think about how they help you to close that loop.

What do you do now? Well, whatever it takes to get rid of that old conditioning. Grasp this opportunity for what it is – a government sanctioned move towards a more innovative, child-focused, sensible approach to assessment.

Read the report, if you haven’t already, and get excited. And most of all, believe. Believe that you know what good assessment looks like, and believe that the DfE trusts you to make it happen.

Last month saw the proud launch of our new Impact pages. Here, you’ll find the first tranche of case studies and evidence showing exactly how our programmes and professional development help teachers to have the biggest impact on each of their children.

Don’t get us wrong. We’re not trying to lay claim to credit that belongs to you. One of the central tenets of the Pearson Primary manifesto is that we support teachers to do what they do best.

We know that it’s the quality and the passion of your teaching that has the greatest impact on children’s learning. But we also know that teaching is a huge job. You have to be an expert in all things: the subjects you teach, pedagogy, assessment, classroom management, curriculum design… and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

So let us take some of the pressure off your shoulders. You can trust us to support you with fantastic resources and training that help you do your job as brilliantly as you want to. We know, though, that trust is won, not given, and that’s what our impact site is all about.

Evidence through to impact

It matters to us that the programmes and professional development we create really do help children to achieve in their education. That’s why we build our programmes on respected research and evidence - such as the Clackmannanshire Study into Synthetic Phonics - and why we sponsor studies by leading academics into key areas of Primary assessment, pedagogy and policy.

When we're talking about children's futures, though, it's not good enough simply to create a resource and send it out into the world to make its own way.  That's why Pearson is committed to evaluating and reporting on the impact of our resources – and improving them, when necessary, to make sure they do not just a good, but a great job for the teachers and children using them.

We do this while we are developing them - road-testing them with real teachers and children. We do this by checking in with our customers once they have bought them to see how they are using them in their school, and to what effect. We do this by giving them to Local Authorities to test with groups of schools in their area.

So, please do check out the case studies, infographics and research summaries to see the positive impact that the partnership of great teachers and great Pearson programmes and professional development have been having in schools like yours.

Then, if you would like to, get in touch with us to tell us about your experiences with them. Perhaps you'd be willing for us to do a case study based on your school, or perhaps you would just like to tell us what you think works best, or what you would do differently if you could. Please use the comment function below and we'll be in touch.

P.S. - This is an evolving site, with more to come for maths and intervention, so why not bookmark it to make sure you get updates?

At Pearson Primary, one of our main manifesto pledges is that we put learners at the centre of everything we do. For us that means every child getting their chance to shine.

That's why we're so proud of the work of our colleagues at Pearson Clinical Assessment, who, along with the Communication Trust, sponsor the annual Shine a Light Awards.

These awards recognise the amazing work done by organisations and individuals to help children and young people with language and communication difficulties.

Host of the award ceremony, David Baddiel, summed up why it is so important to recognise this contribution: “Speech and language problems too often go under the radar, so everyone should not only be congratulated for their work but for bringing this important issue to the attention of others."

He went on say, "I would like to say well done to all those shortlisted who have shown true grit and determination to better themselves and others. They are all a true inspiration - keep up the good work.”

We at Pearson Primary couldn't have put it better ourselves. In the Primary sector, there was one outright winner and two highly commended finalists:

Winner 

Aerodrome Primary Academy School (featured in picture above). Aerodrome Primary Academy has introduced numerous initiatives to support their pupils from the Children’s Centre and Nursery through to Year 6, focusing on improving the communication skills of all pupils.

Aerodrome Academy is dedicated to providing a whole school approach and has developed a strong commitment to working closely with parents. The school's “A chance for all” approach impressed the judges resulting in amazing pupil progress and we are delighted to announce Aerodrome Academy as this year’s winner.

Highly commended

John Ruskin Primary School, which was praised for its creative support for children with speech, language and communication needs and its systematic approach to developing the communication skills of all its pupils.

Lark Hall Primary School. The judges particularly liked the fact the school shop was run by the students as it gave them valuable opportunities to develop communication skills. Congratulations to the three winners and to all of the finalists, for all of the incredible work they do.    

Pearson UK president Rod Bristow had this to say about the government proposals to reform vocational qualifications for 16-19 year olds in England.

Rod said:

“At a time when the demands of higher education and the needs of employers are changing rapidly, it is right that we should be reviewing vocational qualifications, just as we are academic qualifications. Young people deserve assurance that the qualifications they take in school or at college will give them the knowledge and skills they need to go on and meet their ambitions, and will not close off opportunities.

“There is clear evidence that those who achieve high-quality vocational qualifications go on to excel in higher education as well as in work. We should be aiming to build on that success.

Nearly one hundred thousand young people progress to university study with a BTEC every year, and the data demonstrates that vocational qualifications lead to educational progress, greater employability and higher earnings.”
“Our goal is to create world class vocational qualifications which empower young people to progress and to compete with their peers globally, in higher education and in work.”

Pearson UK president Rod Bristow has commented on the judgment from the High Court in relation to the 2012 GCSE English results.

He said:

“We understand this has been a time of uncertainty for students, teachers and parents. We are pleased that the courts have investigated the evidence thoroughly and found that our awarding processes were rigorous and fair.

“Yet there is much to be learned from the events of this summer. We will now focus on working even more closely with the regulator, government, higher education and employers to secure the confidence of students, parents and teachers in the values and standards of our exam system.”

Following Michael Gove’s speech on curriculum, exam and accountability reform for GCSEs, Pearson UK president Rod Bristow added to the debate.

Rod said:

"We must encourage all young people to have high educational aspirations, and raise the standards bar to match and exceed the best in the world. At Pearson we have been working hard on developing new World Class Qualifications which deliver these standards and we will press on with this work in order to make a contribution to the new GCSEs outlined by Michael Gove today.

"We also look forward to contributing to the debate on future accountability measures. For too long, accountability measures have risked capping our young people's aspirations and we look forward to the opportunity to help shape a better system."