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A small number of teachers made these comments, through the EIS survey and first-hand discussions and observations with those carrying out the assessments. For 2018-19, we are introducing a more systematic user feedback process to hear directly from children and young people themselves. At the end of each assessment, a short age-appropriate survey will be available to encourage them to feedback on their experience.

The Scottish Government has made clear that individual teachers and schools, in conjunction with their local authorities, should decide the most appropriate time during the school year for children to take the Scottish National Standardised Assessments. We will discuss with local authorities the importance of schools having the flexibility to make the decision on timing.

Paragraph 31 of the User Review refers to the face to face feedback provided about the assessments at all stages (P1, P4, P7 and S3) as part of focus groups with schools and local authorities and classroom observations. These 9 focus groups and 6 classroom observations involved more than 50 teachers and other professionals, the vast majority of whom indicated their satisfaction with the reports.

There were 51,513 FTE teachers in 2017-18. Of those, 3558 FTE teachers were teaching P1 in September 2017. This includes those teaching composite classes of pupils from two or more years. We do not have a breakdown of the number of teachers who taught the children and young people who sat SNSAs in 2017-18.

The SNSA were developed in discussion with teachers and the Scottish Government has sought feedback from users as an integral part of the continuous improvement process. A number of system improvements, for example replenishment of a third of the questions, were already in train prior to more recent feedback such as the EIS member survey.

As stated in the User Review published on 28 August 2018, the assessment platform will be enhanced with a more systematic user feedback process. At the end of each assessment, a short age-appropriate survey will be available for children and young people that will encourage them to feedback on their experience.

We have offered schools maximum flexibility on carrying out the assessments and there were a number of successful approaches, including through the use of one-to-one support. Working in small groups and on a one-to-one basis is part of everyday teaching and learning in Primary 1.

The Scottish Government has not created a narrow focus on Scottish National Standardised Assessments data. We have been consistently clear that the key measure of children and young people’s progress is teacher professional judgement. The SNSA are not “high stakes” tests; they are diagnostic assessments to support learning and bring a consistent, national element to help inform teachers’ professional judgement.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the P1 assessments, and the SNSA in general.

The Scottish Government is not aware of specific instances where teachers have been prevented from undertaking SQA duties.

The release of teachers to undertake SQA appointee duties is a matter for local authorities and schools.

SQA appointees play an invaluable role in the delivery of SQA’s functions, whilst also offering teachers the opportunity to develop their skills and enhance their understanding of assessment and quality assurance techniques.