Education Minister has announced arrangements
for new Key Stage assessments, for the three-year period from the
2025-26 academic year.
The new system-level sample assessments will evaluate the
literacy and numeracy knowledge and skills of pupils at the end
of Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 and will be introduced and
delivered by the Council for Curriculum, Examinations and
Assessment (CCEA).
The assessments will provide insights into learning outcomes
across the education system and will play a vital role in shaping
educational policies and interventions. The assessments will be
taken by a sample of pupils and will be used to identify national
trends in performance.
said: “Literacy and
numeracy are the essential foundation of all education.
Northern Ireland is currently without any measures of how
our system is performing in both these areas at primary school
and Key Stage 3. This is not acceptable and makes us an outlier
internationally in being without basic performance data.
“This new approach is designed to provide a clear,
evidence-based understanding of how well our pupils are
developing essential knowledge and skills in reading, writing and
mathematics and will provide an authoritative
picture on our national educational performance. The
findings from the assessments will support curriculum
development and teacher professional learning.”
System-level sample assessments are used across many
high-performing education systems, including Canada, USA,
Finland, Japan and Singapore.
The Minister continued: “These new arrangements have been
developed in consultation with CCEA and key stakeholders,
including school leaders.
“My Department and CCEA will work closely with schools
and stakeholders to ensure the smooth implementation of the new
arrangements. Further details, including timelines and guidance
for schools will be provided in the coming months.”
CCEA Chief Executive, Gerry Campbell said: “In response to the
Department of Education's requirement to introduce interim
arrangements to assess system-wide performance in literacy and
numeracy, CCEA will create and administer the new written
assessments, effective from the 2025-2026 academic year.
“This approach aims to minimise the workload on schools and
provide a clear, evidence-based understanding of how well pupils
are developing essential skills in reading, writing and
mathematics.”
A representative sample of schools will participate in the
assessments annually and outcomes will not be published at school
or pupil level.
Notes to editors:
- The new arrangements will be in place from the 2025-26
academic year, with the first assessments in March 2026. There
will be a system level check in literacy and numeracy via written
assessments designed and administered by CCEA.
- CCEA is the statutory body responsible for curriculum,
examinations, and assessment in Northern Ireland.
- Key Stage ages are: Key Stage 1 – ages 5-7; Key Stage 2 –
ages 7-11; Key Stage 3 – ages 11-14.
- Key Stage assessments is a key commitment within my
Department's Education Strategy, TransformED NI.
- System-level sample assessments are large-scale evaluations
of student performance conducted at the national level. These
assessments are designed to measure the effectiveness of
education systems without evaluating individual students or
schools directly. Instead, they gather data from a representative
sample of students to draw conclusions about overall educational
quality, performance trends and educational policies.
