91¶¶Òõ

Primary teachers are still choosing for KS1 Sats to go ahead to benchmark pupils despite the government tests now being optional

How well do your students understand what exam questions are asking? Developing this skill as early as possible will lighten their cognitive load in the exam hall, says Lisa Lockley

Having access to a Sure Start centre significantly improved the educational achievement of children, according to Institute for Fiscal Studies research

Having noticed more students than ever struggling with exam anxiety, teacher Michael Hobbiss turned to research for solutions – here he recommends evidence-based interventions to use as we head towards exams

NEU president says teachers’ autonomy has been reduced by an education system that stops teachers from being ‘the educators they want to be’

But teachers say they have to work within the realities of a system where they cannot afford to risk students having nothing to show for two years of studying for a National 5

Since this school started running ‘just in time’ sessions, offering students refreshments and moral support immediately before GCSE and A-level exams, it has been impressed with the results

But entering students for both National 4 and National 5 is bad for attainment, says SQA, and those at a single level tend to get better results

Teachers say students find exams more stressful now and often lack key knowledge and skills – and staff also raise concerns about attendance

Exam board says private schools could choose to ‘simply continue’ with A levels while state schools move to ABS

But lower attaining pupils were likely to have found last summer’s test more difficult than previous papers, analysis finds

Three years after the introduction of the DfE’s controversial test for four-year-olds, John Morgan finds out what, if anything, the Reception Baseline Assessment has taught us about assessing early progress