The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

Section 1 Summary of Key Findings and Issues

Survey overview

1.1 This was the first Scottish Survey of Achievement ( SSA). The 2005 SSA focused on English Language and on core skills applied within a language context.

• Just over 28,000 pupils were assessed, around 7,000 at each of the three primary stages and just under 6,500 at S2.
• Testing took place in 1,300 schools in May and June 2005.
• In 16 local authorities school and pupil samples were boosted to allow reporting at local authority level in reading and numeracy.
• Assessment results are not reported for individual schools or for individual pupils. Pupils assessed in the survey will remain anonymous.

1.2 The results of the survey for reading and numeracy are reported as:

• 'very good' skills at the level, 80% or more of the questions answered correctly;
• 'well-established' skills at the level, at least 65% of questions answered correctly; and
• 'made a good start' at the level, at least 50% of the questions answered correctly ¹.

Results for Reading

1.3 At each of 5-14 Levels A to F, 12 different reading tasks were administered in the survey, 6 functional and 6 narrative/personal (72 tasks in all). Every pupil involved in the assessment of reading was randomly allocated three tasks, at three consecutive levels: P3 at Levels A, B and C; P5 at Levels B, C, and D; P7 at Levels C, D and E; and S2 at Levels D, E and F.

1.4 The survey provided estimates of attainment for P3, P5, P7 and S2 at Levels B, C, D & E.

• For P3 and P5, levels B and C are slightly beyond those expected.
• For P7 and S2, levels D and E are expected for most pupils.

1.5 The results show a very consistent picture across the stages:

• around three-quarters of pupils at each stage had made a good start or better at the level
• around half showed well-established skills or better at the level
• around a quarter showed very good skills at the level

1.6 Looking across the levels for each stage:

• At P3 three-quarters of the pupils showed well-established skills at Level A, half showed well-established skills at Level B (expected for P4) and one fifth showed well-established skills at Level C (expected for P6)
• At P5 just over four fifths of the pupils showed well-established skills at Level B, over half showed well-established skills at Level C (expected for P6) and one fifth showed well-established skills at Level D (expected for P7)
• At P7 more than three-quarters showed well-established skills at Level C, around half showed well-established skills at Level D and just under a third showed well-established skills at Level E (expected for S2)
• At S2 just over two-thirds showed well-established skills at Level D, half showed well-established skills at Level E and just under a fifth showed well-established skills at Level F.

1.7 The overall picture is of strong attainment at P3 and P5; a slight dip into P7; but attainment for more able readers sustained from P7 to S2.

Lower attaining pupils in Reading

1.8 The survey also provided information about attainment for P3, P5, P7 and S2 at Levels A, B, C and D. Level A is expected for almost all pupils in P3. Levels C and D are the levels below those expected for P7 and S2.

• From P3 to P5 the proportion of pupils showing well-established skills at Levels A and B slightly increased.
• At P7 and S2, between eight and nine out of ten pupils had at least made a good start at Level C and Level D respectively in reading. (The extract below shows the kind of text that pupils with Level D reading skills are expected to understand.)
• The proportion of pupils not making at least a good start at the level below the expected level increased from one in ten at P5 and P7 to nearly one in five at S2.

Reading in local authorities

1.9 The survey results for reading therefore suggest that while higher attainers make good progress, especially to Level E in P7, lower attaining pupils appear to lose some ground after P5 - the 'gap' widens.

1.10 Across the 16 sampled local authorities, as might be expected, attainment was generally in line with levels of deprivation, with the highest attainment in the least deprived authorities. However, in a few authorities pupils achieved higher or lower levels than expected.

Teachers' judgements about attainment in Reading

1.11 The survey collected teachers' own estimates of levels attained for reading, writing and mathematics.

• Teachers' judgements about reading levels matched the survey results for around 40% of pupils at each stage. The lowest match was at Level D at both P7 and S2, at just under 30%.
• At P3 and P5 teachers put almost all the sampled pupils into two levels. In contrast, the survey results distributed pupils almost equally over four levels, with one in five pupils at levels above those reported by teachers, and nearly one in four at levels below those reported.
• At P7 and S2, both the survey results and teachers' judgements distributed pupils' attainment in reading across several levels. Teachers' judgements matched the survey results for basic Level D and E skills for P7 and S2, rather than well-established skills at these expected levels.
• There was some variation across local authorities in the extent to which teachers' judgements matched the survey results.

Gender differences in Reading

1.12 In the survey in primary schools girls performed consistently better than boys in reading. This difference was statistically significant at P3 and P5. By P7 although girls still performed better than boys the difference was no longer significant and by S2 there was no consistent difference between boys and girls.

• Larger gender differences emerged for some reading tasks compared with others, suggesting topic (but not genre) effects. This is consistent with the findings from the 2002 and 2003 Assessment of Achievement ( AAP) surveys in social subjects and science.
• There were also significant gender differences in the level judgements of the teachers, with girls rated more highly for reading attainment by their teachers than boys at all stages.

Changes in Reading attainment over time

1.13 The survey allowed comparison of attainment in reading in 2001 ( AAP) with 2005 ( SSA). The comparison was for 'well-established' (secure) skills for P7 and S2 only, because P3 and P5 were not sampled in 2001.

• The data indicate that attainment has improved since 2001 at both stages and at all levels, with the exception of Level F at S2.

Trends in Reading attainment

1.14 It is also possible to look at trends in reading attainment for P7 and S2 from 1998-2005, from the 1998/99-2003/04 5-14 National Survey of Attainment and the AAP/ SSA.

For P7:

• the trend in reading attainment is gradually increasing
• the figures based on schools' reported results are consistently higher than those from the AAP/ SSA, but the rate of improvement is very similar.

For S2:

• the trend from 1998-2005 is up, as for P7
• schools' reported results are uniformly more generous to pupils than the survey results
• the exception is S2 attainment at Level F, where attainment in AAP 2001 is slightly higher than the results from the national 5-14 survey in the same year

Results in Writing

1.15 Extended writing was submitted by schools (not done under test conditions during the survey). Examples of writing were nationally moderated. The agreement about levels between teachers and moderators suggested that the teachers involved had a reasonably good understanding of the standards expected, especially at P5 and P7, although there was some variation across authorities.

Attainment in extended Writing

1.16 High proportions of pupils at each stage attained two adjacent levels: Levels A/B for P3, B/C for P5, C/D for P7, D/E for S2.

• About a third of P3 pupils attained Level B or above, nearly half of P5 pupils Level C or above, just under two-thirds of P7 Level D or above, and just over half of S2 Level E or above.
• Rather more P5 pupils were reported as attaining Level C than P3 attaining Level B, suggesting steady gains.
• Around one in ten of P3, P5 and S2 pupils were reported as attaining levels beyond those expected, Levels C, D and F respectively. The proportion of P7 attaining Level E was slightly higher, at one in seven. As in reading, higher attainers appeared to sustain their achievement across stages.
• The results show that proportions of S2 pupils at Levels D and E or above were around 10% lower than the proportions of P7 attaining Levels C and D or above. Nevertheless, more than eight out of ten S2 pupils attained Level D. (There is a description of the standard expected for Level D writing in the box below).
• The proportions of pupils not achieving the level below that expected increased from up to one in ten for primary pupils to one in seven in S2, a similar picture to reading for lower attainment.

Changes in Writing attainment over time

1.17 The survey allowed comparison of attainment in writing between 2001 and 2005.

• 2001 AAP results were based on the judgements of single teacher raters (not the pupils' own class teachers) on submitted writing, whereas 2005 results were based on the majority agreements of three independent evaluators, the class teacher and the two external moderators. The 2005 data should therefore be considered more reliable.
• Writing attainment rates were closely similar in the two surveys, despite these differences in procedure. There was no significant change evident between the two surveys, except at S2, Level D, where there was a slight improvement.

Gender differences in Writing

1.18 Gender differences in level profiles for writing were statistically significant at all four stages, with teachers rating girls' writing more highly than boys' writing and more girls than boys achieving higher levels.

Results in Numeracy

1.19 The survey provided estimates of attainment in numeracy for P3, P5, P7 and S2 at Levels B, C, D and E.

• For P7 and S2, these are levels expected for their stage. For P3 and P5 they are slightly beyond the levels expected for their stage.

At the primary stages:

• The proportions of pupils showing well-established skills and very good skills at the relevant levels increased through the primary school to P7. Just under two fifths of P3, around half of P5, and two-thirds of P7 showed well-established skills at Levels B, C and D.
• Around one fifth of P5 pupils showed well-established skills at Level D, the level expected for P7.

At S2:

• More than two in five of the pupils showed well-established skills or better at Level E
• The proportion of S2 pupils having well-established skills or very good skills at Level E was around a third lower than P7 at Level D, but nevertheless over nine out of ten of S2 pupils had at least made a good start with Level D skills in numeracy.

Lower attaining pupils in Numeracy

1.20 The survey also provided information about attainment in numeracy for P3, P5, P7 and S2 at Levels A, B, C and D. For P3 and P5, Levels A and B are expected for almost all pupils. For P7 and S2 they are the levels below those expected for their stage.

At P3

• Nine out of ten pupils showed well-established skills at Level A, and over eight out of ten showed very good skills at this level. Fewer than one in twenty did not achieve at least a good start with Level A skills.

At P5 and P7

• More than eight out of ten of pupils showed well-established skills at Levels B/C, and more than six out of ten showed very good skills at these levels. The proportions who had not at least made a good start at these levels were very small, fewer than one in ten of the sample.

At S2

• The pattern was slightly less positive, but nevertheless showed good attainment at Level D.
• Around three-quarters of S2 showed well-established skills at Level D and nearly half showed very good skills at this level. Less than one tenth had not achieved at least a good start with Level D skills.

Maths Literacy

1.21 Pupils in the survey also undertook maths literacy tasks, which required them to apply their numeracy skills in everyday contexts.

• The results suggest quite consistent progression through the primary school in applying number and data handling skills in everyday contexts, but little progress between P7 and S2 in this type of maths.
• These differences are very similar to those between numeracy (number, money and measurement and information handling) and problem-solving in the 2004 maths survey.

Changes in Numeracy attainment over time

1.22 It is possible to consider trends in numeracy attainment for P7 and S2 from 1998-2005, from the 5-14 National Survey of Attainment (1998-2004) and the AAP/ SSA surveys (2000, 2005).

• Results from the national 5-14 survey/teacher judgements show steady increases in achievement for P7 and S2 over the period at all levels, with particularly marked jumps at Level F in 2005.
• Comparing the 2005 survey of numeracy with the 2000 AAP mathematics survey, the survey shows significant improvement over time only at Level D. Attainment rates for both P7 and S2 at Level D are higher in 2005 than in 2000.

Attainment in other language and core skills

1.23 Listening/watching, Talking, Knowledge about language, Working with others, Problem-solving and Information and Communications Technology ( ICT) were all assessed as practical skills in the survey by field officers visiting schools. The schools from across Scotland invited to take part were selected for their relatively convenient location and large size, so the pupil samples were not fully representative of all pupils at their stages. Nevertheless, the results are of interest to teachers and schools.

Listening/Watching

1.24 For the assessment of Listening/Watching, pupils listened to audio tapes or watched video extracts and then answered written questions. P3 pupils answered questions at Levels A-C, P5 at Levels A-E, and P7 and S2 at Levels B-F.

• The overall picture was of a wide spread of attainment. On the one hand, over half of pupils at all stages successfully answered questions at Levels C, D, E and F, beyond the levels expected for their stage. On the other hand, around one third of the pupils at each stage had difficulty with the questions at the level below that expected.
• P7 pupils performed almost as well as S2 at Level F, with around half of the pupils at both stages successfully answering the questions at this level.

Talking

1.25 Pupils' talking was assessed by field officers both individually and in groups. Individual pupils chose to talk with a field officer about their interests, TV/Films, school, or a piece of their own writing.

• The results for all tasks show differences between P5/P7 and P3/S2.
• The numbers of pupils at each stage attaining the successive levels decreased with age. Just under two-thirds of P3 pupils attained Level B, around half of P5 and P7 pupils attained Levels C and D, a third of S2 pupils attained Level E.
• The number of pupils estimated as not attaining the level below that expected increased steadily from stage to stage, with twice as many pupils in this category in S2 as in P5.
• Rather more pupils at P3 and S2 compared with those at P5 and P7 adopted a disruptive role or showed signs of being disengaged.
• At all stages girls' talking skills were more highly rated by the field officers than were the boys'.

Knowledge about Language ( KAL)

1.26 For Knowledge about language, field officers questioned pupils orally about their knowledge of the relevant terms and concepts from national guidelines. P3 pupils answered questions for Levels B-C, P5 for Levels B-D, P7 for Levels C-E and S2 for Levels D-F. ( KAL does not feature at Level A).

• The numbers of primary pupils who successfully answered KAL questions at Levels B, C and D respectively increased steadily from stage to stage.
• Between five and six out of ten pupils in both P7 and S2 successfully answered questions at Levels D and E, and similar numbers of S2 pupils successfully answered questions Levels D, E and F.

Group talk: Working with Others and Problem-solving

1.27 Working with others and Problem-solving were assessed through field officers' observation of groups of pupils carrying out language-related problem-solving tasks. For Working with others pupils were assessed individually on Getting the task done, contributing New ideas, Building on others' ideas, and showing Motivation to participate and complete the task.

• Around eight out of ten pupils at all stages successfully contributed new ideas to the discussion and nine or more out of ten were motivated, built on each others' ideas and got the task done.
• Amongst lower attainers, around twice as many P3 and S2 pupils as P5 and P7 pupils made little or no contribution to the discussion and/or showed no evidence of listening to the ideas of others and building on them.

1.28 Problem-solving was assessed for the group as a whole: Understanding & exploring the problem, Resolving the problem by reflecting critically on progress and adopting suitable strategies, and eventually Completing the task.

• Over nine out of ten of groups across all stages showed some evidence or strong evidence of completing the task successfully.
• For Understanding and exploring the problem and Resolving the problem, only just over one in ten of groups at P5 and P7 showed no evidence of these skills, whereas at P3 and S2 the equivalent proportions were nearly four in ten and nearly three in ten.

Information and Communications Technology ( ICT)

1.29 The assessment tasks for ICT focused on Searching & Researching, Creating & Presenting and Using the Technology in a language-based context.

• There was evidence of solid progress in ICT skills in primary schools. Half of P5 pupils demonstrated Level C skills, and nearly two-thirds of P7 pupils demonstrated Level D skills.
• There was a slight dip in attainment into S2, with half demonstrating Level E skills, but attainment in P7 and S2 of Levels E and F respectively was comparable, at just under one fifth, suggesting steady progress for the higher attainers in ICT.
• Between one and two in ten of pupils at all stages could not demonstrate skills at the level below that expected.

1.30 Pupils also completed an ICT questionnaire.

• Around three-quarters of the pupils who completed the main survey questionnaires claimed to have computer access at home, and around two-thirds agreed that they had home internet access
• Pupils said they used computers more at home than at school, with home use increasing with age, rising to almost two-thirds of the pupils at S2.
• Pupils said they used their computers at home for games, the internet and homework, and to a lesser extent for e-mail.

Questionnaire results: teachers' views

1.31 From primary teachers' questionnaires:

• More than nine out of ten of the teachers reported using 5-14 National Assessments at most once or twice a term, and less frequently in maths than in English.
• Around seven out of ten used national assessments 'always' or 'sometimes' with individual pupils or pupil groups, when they judged them to be ready, and 'never' with the whole class.
• Around half the primary teachers agreed that the results of national assessments in reading and mathematics coincided with their own judgements in 'almost all' cases.

1.32 From S2 teachers' questionnaires:

• Just over 10% of maths teachers and almost 20% of English teachers 'sometimes' used national assessments with individual pupils, pupil groups or the whole class (when judged ready or at set times)
• Over 15% of maths teachers and just over 5% of English teachers used national assessments only with the whole class at set times.
• Only just over a third of the teachers agreed that test results coincided with their own judgements for 'almost all' pupils in all three areas.

Teachers' views of pupils' attendance, motivation and behaviour

1.33 At the primary stages:

• Around 95% of teachers judged attendance, motivation and behaviour as 'very good' or 'good'
• Around 65% of teachers judged lesson attendance 'very good' and around 45% judged motivation and behaviour 'very good'.

1.34 At S2:

• 40-50% of teachers judged lesson attendance 'very good' (higher in English than mathematics),
• 20%-25% judged learning motivation and behaviour 'very good'
• Over 20% of the S2 mathematics teachers gave 'poor' or 'very poor' ratings for learning motivation.
• The numbers of teachers rating pupils' motivation to learn as 'very good' fell from around 55% at P3 through under 50% at P5 and 40% at P7 to 20% at S2 - a clear negative trend.

Pupils' views about English lessons

1.35 In both sectors pupils said that during most lessons they:

• were taught as a class - 70% of primary pupils, 80% of S2 pupils
• wrote in their jotters or files - 80% at each stage
• worked on their own - 70% at each stage

1.36 Primary pupils reported more of some activities 'during most lessons' than S2 pupils:

• being taught in a group - 30% of P5/P7 pupils, 5% of S2 pupils
• working in a small group or with a partner - up to 25% of P5/P7 pupils up to 15% of S2 pupils.
• reading textbooks or reference books and completing worksheets - 60% of primary pupils, 30% of S2

Pupils' self-assessment in English

1.37 The questionnaires asked pupils to evaluate their own skills in English.

• Pupils' self assessments tended to become less positive with age.
• Around two-thirds of the pupils at each stage estimated their own language ability as good/above average to exceptional/very good
• the proportions estimating their language ability as exceptional/very good dropped by roughly ten percentage points per stage, from just over 40% at P3 to just over 10% at S2,
• The proportions of pupils claiming that they didn't know how good they were at English also decreased with increasing age.

« Previous | Contents | Next »