This blog / forum is a place to exchange information about using P scales to track the progress of individual pupils with special educational needs, who are who are working at earlier levels than that described by the UK National Curriculum programmes of study or the Primary Strategies yearly teaching programmes.The purpose of this blog is to promote professional dialogue, helping teachers develop their common understanding of levels of pupils’ progress, and developing perspectives on issues such as :
- Making and sharing professional judgements.
- Level descriptors for pupils of different ages
- Profiles exhibited by pupils who experience different barriers to learning
- Recognising lateral progress.
- Consolidation of knowledge and skills
- Celebrating progress for those whose progress is extremely slow
- The strengths and weaknesses of data.
Before the P scales were included in the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) guidance documents ‘Planning, teaching and assessing the curriculum for pupils with learning difficulties’ in 2001 teachers of pupils with severe or profound learning difficulties didn’t have a common framework on which to view progress. Since their introduction they have become a common language through which we can communicate about individual pupil’s levels of performance and the progress they have made.
These documents are available here
Les Staves,
P Scales Matters moderator
What are P scales
P scales are progressive levels describing learning that leads to level one of National Curriculum subjects. They are intended for pupils with all kinds of special needs who are still working towards the National Curriculum across the age range from 5 to 16. P scales are related to National Curriculum progress and as such reflect that part of the whole child’s progress
They are of great use helping us reflect upon the steps that children with special needs make as they develop and extend the application of knowledge and skills. Such children often make progress in very small steps, or in idiosyncratic ways, following very individual paths. Consequently they often need their own individual objectives.
P scales are not a curriculum or preset objectives, or recommended or expected steps. They are intended to be broad framework to help teachers make professional judgements taking into account their knowledge of individuals and circumstances to reflect on the progress of a wide range of children.
The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) guidance states that whilst they provide useful information there are many considerations that must be taken into account when using aggregated data derived from P scale assessments.
In 2005 QCA produced further guidance ‘Using P Scales’ which reaffirmed many important messages about the use of P scales including.
- P scales were a useful framework to support observations and assessments over time – making best fit judgements
- They are a framework that outlines attainment and helps track linear and lateral progress.
Assessing the overall performance of a pupil
Staff should use their professional judgement to decide which P level descriptor offers the best fit for a pupil’s performance according to the evidence gathered. Staff will need to work together to review their perspectives and decide whether a pupil’s performance, taken as a whole over a year or key stage, has been ‘more P5 than P4 or P6’. Considering pupils’ work against elements of the levels above and below a proposed level is an effective way of clarifying a best-fit judgement. Staff should make best-fit judgements on the basis of normal, everyday teaching and learning processes. There is no need for
testing or setting up special assessment tasks or activities.
Flexibility in using the P scales
Best-fit judgements are based on:
- The teacher’s knowledge of the learner.
- An awareness of the contexts in which learning takes place’
- Consideration of a variety of different forms of evidence gathered over time.
Staff should not make judgements about levels on the basis of a single piece of work or any single item of evidence. However, pupils do not need to repeat responses that are regarded by staff as secure (by performing a given skill five times over, for example). A pupil does not necessarily have to demonstrate every element in a level descriptor or demonstrate an element a certain number of times in order to be awarded a given level. Pupils do not need to demonstrate mastery of a certain percentage of the elements in a level descriptor. There is no need to create further sublevels or subdivisions within each P level.
Making Best Fit Judgements
For some learners, it may be appropriate to ignore elements of a descriptor to acknowledge the impact of particular impairments. When making best-fit judgements, staff will need to take account of:
- Pupils’ ages and prior attainments.
- The levels of support, modelling or prompting pupils receive.
- The effects of the barriers to learning experienced by pupils.
The examples of activities and responses in the P scales are illustrative rather than prescriptive. Staff can be confident that it is acceptable to look for alternative but equivalent learning.
