The 7 Principles of Child-Centred Assessment

Over the course of the summer exam chaos in 2020 and 2021 in the UK, one thing became abundantly clear: the assessment system in the United Kingdom is broken. The NATD held a series of events with its members and a range of subject specialists to consider what a child centred assessment system might look like. Together we developed the following 7 principles that an assessment system should adopt to ensure it truly serves the needs of the child and their family.

1. Assessment should be driven by the child and the child should own the outcomes

2. Parents should have involvement in the assessment process

3. Assessment is formative, not summative and is never reduced to a grade

4. Assessment will be on-going and regular, used to inform teaching and guide learning

5. Assessment will involve a range of forms of expression, capturing learning in whatever media is appropriate for the subject and the child

6. Assessment must be evidence based, which should be collected and collated as a part of the learning journey of the child

7. Graded league tables must be abolished. They do not serve the needs of the child

The 7 Principles of a Child-Centred Assessment System: