'Replace Key Stages with random tests for just a few'

Children should be selected for random testing under plans that would see the scrapping of Key Stage testing.

The Government's chief education watchdog was today set to recommend that only some pupils should take the national curriculum papers and that Key Stage exams taken by whole year groups should be phased out.

Ken Boston, chief executive of the Curriculum and Qualifications Authority, wants them replaced by a mix of random testing and teacher assessments that measure individual pupil progress.

All children in England currently sit tests at Key Stages 1 (age 7), 2 (11) and 3 (14), which form the basis of school league tables. But critics say these result in a narrow curriculum and undue pressure on pupils. Mr Boston will call for three per cent of children to be randomly selected to sit the same test on the same day.

He told The Times: "You could run sample tests alongside the national curriculum tests for perhaps three years, before moving to a mix of national sampling and progress testing."

A system of individual pupil progress should also be introduced, based on teacher assessments and "no-stakes diagnostic tests", said Mr Boston.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association for School and College Leaders, welcomed the proposals.

He said random sampling produced better results.