The why, what and how of assessment – Special schools and alternative provision

SSAT has long advocated a principled approach to the design of both the curriculum and assessment.

We welcome Ofsted’s focus on the quality of education which not only focuses on the curriculum but also the use of assessment in ensuring teaching matches the student’s prior knowledge and allows small steps of progress and mastery to be celebrated. Within education and in particular in the special sector and in alternative provision we assess for an extraordinarily wide range of reasons.

This resource has been produced in collaboration with the SSAT’s SEND steering group and SEND network.

SSAT believes that schools are best placed to formulate and identify the assessment tools which work best for their learners. Therefore, this resource does not attempt to tell you how to assess rather it asks questions that you need to ask and be confident of answering.

We recommend that you work through the questions initially as a senior team and then in discussion with your whole staff, your learners, their parents/carers, governors/trustees and all other stakeholders.

Highlight any areas you identify that you need to consider further and use these as the basis for the ongoing review of your assessment policies and procedures.