How do I evidence progress in RE without levels?
Many schools are working on assessment without levels for subjects in the national curriculum. This sets out the position as far as the REQM assessment is concerned:
From September 2014, the national curriculum levels do not apply to subjects, apart from the current years 2 and 6. All other years are expected to be working on ways of assessing which show whether pupils are working at ‘age related expectations’ (ARE).
For maintained schools, RE is expected to be taught according to the locally agreed syllabus. Academies and free schools are free to develop their own curriculum for RE. Voluntary Aided Church of England schools and Roman Catholic schools will have guidance from their dioceses. Other faith schools will also follow their own syllabuses.
For those schools applying for the REQM, the expectation is that pupils are achieving at least the same as other subjects. The way of checking this should be both robust and light touch. Some moderation by the school, of examples of pupils’ and students’ across RE and English, for example, would show whether pupils are working at ‘age related expectations’ in RE. For those schools using levels in RE, the same could apply. It is not expected that this is done by the school for every pupil – a sample of pupils will be enough to show a broad comparison of standards.
A critical aspect of the REQM assessment is what pupils and students have to say about their RE. If they say for example, whether RE is challenging, interesting and makes them think, this is a good indicator for the extent to which they are achieving well.