Assessment

On-line and on-demand: The future for assessing Numeracy, Literacy and Digital Fluency?

Numeracy, Literacy and Digital Fluency are the skills that will ensure young people are prepared for the wider world when they leave education. AQA has published a new report proposing a new assessment, similar to a driving test, for all students including those who struggle in the current system. Author of “A, B, C, it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3” Towards new assessments for Numeracy, Literacy and Digital Fluency, Adam Steedman Thake, AQA’s Policy and Evidence Manager, highlights key points from his report that illuminate the problem and signpost a much-needed solution.

Date05/10/23

AuthorAdam Steedman Thake

New on-line assessments for numeracy, literacy and digital fluency should be for all learners

In my research for ‘Towards new assessments for Numeracy, Literacy and Digital Fluency’, I looked at international studies, think-tank reports, national statistics and surveys as well as speaking to educationalists and subject experts.

The UK has been grappling with how to instil in young people and adults the core skills of numeracy, literacy and digital fluency.

These are vital for basic daily tasks such as reading prescriptions, evaluating mortgage deals or navigating the internet in a safe and effective way.

What do we mean by Numeracy, Literacy and Digital Fluency?

Finding a solution needs a common understanding of what we are working towards.

Literacy should not be confused with English, just as maths and numeracy are not the same.

Literacy is an array of connected skills and knowledge that enable people to understand and communicate written information both orally and in writing, in person and online.

Being numerate meanwhile requires, among other things, being able to understand and make informed decisions about financial matters, manage budgets, and make sense of tables, charts and rudimentary statistics.
These are fundamental but far from basic skills.

Digital fluency should be seen as on par with numeracy and literacy in importance and seriousness throughout school as it, along with numeracy and literacy, underpins future development and growth.

Not everyone needs to know how to write or understand coding, that is computer science.

But we all need to use everyday IT tools such as word processors and spreadsheets, and to navigate the internet safely and with critical understanding. This is digital fluency.

Why we need new assessments for Numeracy, Literacy and Digital Fluency

There are many good qualifications out there, but when it comes to numeracy, literacy and digital fluency we have found a gap.

GCSEs are a trusted and well understood way of ranking candidates’ levels of understanding. They are also good for signposting decisions about future educational and work pathways.

But these are not always suitable for someone who is unable to read a manual, write a message or calculate percentages.

GCSE grades are hard to use as a proxy for fundamental numeracy and literacy, but that is what sometimes happens.

Functional Skills Qualifications are excellent alternatives to GCSEs but they have a reputational problem and are poorly understood by employers.

We have also learnt from FSQs that ‘only for’ qualifications are not enough and for that reason we need something that is more ‘one for all’.

There has been declining use of Functional Skills Qualifications

Seeing Numeracy, Literacy and Digital Fluency assessments as driving tests

This is why AQA is exploring the use of new digital, on-demand assessments of core competences that all students can take.

They can be compared to driving tests.

Before gaining a full driving licence, learners need to acquire and demonstrate a range of core skills before they take a test on a date of their own choosing.

That’s exactly what these assessments should do: evidence the skills and knowledge that make people literate, numerate and digitally fluent.

Initially, we will explore assessing numeracy, before looking at literacy and digital fluency.

These new assessment tools will sit alongside GCSEs, BTECs, FSQs, A-levels and other qualifications.

Since everyone needs to be literate and numerate it is vital these assessments are aimed at everyone.

Just because a student has a GCSE in maths, English or computer science, it does not automatically mean they are numerate, literate or digitally fluent.

Assessment can have a large impact on teaching.

Reliable and valid assessments provide important information about what students know and can do.

They identify how well students have grasped core skills and knowledge, and areas in which they struggle.

These new-style assessments would be focused on core knowledge and skills.

Everyone should find them useful, especially those who struggle to embed the fundamentals.

Creating new assessments for Numeracy, Literacy and Digital Fluency is not a straightforward process

There are, of course, practical considerations.

Growing numbers of students taking courses to improve their numeracy, literacy and digital fluency take a corresponding growth in expert teachers to deliver them.

Recruitment and retention in teaching is an issue, we know that.

These considerations are at the forefront of our minds and will continue to be so while we proceed with this work.

In 2024, we are convening an expert advisory panel on numeracy, literacy and digital fluency.

That panel will ensure we continue moving in the right direction and create the best assessment possible for these vital skills.

Education Policy

Through the looking glass: How polling the public can help policymakers learn about themselves

Public attitude data is key to effective policymaking. Proper polling can reveal what people think about existing policies and what they want for the future. But, if looked at from a different angle, it can also help policymakers question themselves and their assumptions about the public. In this blog, AQA’s Policy and Evidence Manager Adam Steedman-Thake, reveals the lessons he learned about himself while reading a recent public attitude survey.

Assessment

Assessing oracy: Is Comparative Judgement the answer?

Oracy skills are vital to success in school and life. And yet, for many children, opportunities to develop them are missed. Educationalists are engaging in a growing debate about where oracy fits into the school system. Labour has put it at the heart of its plans to improve social mobility and an independent commission is looking at how it is taught in the classroom. This renewed focus on oracy means it is more important than ever that teachers have a way to reliably assess and understand their students’ attainment and progression. Amanda Moorghen of oracy education charity Voice 21 explains how Comparative Judgement can help with that and why it may be a game changer.

Education

TV subtitles as an aid to literacy: What does the research say?

Jack Black is probably best known in educational circles for playing a renegade substitute teacher in School of Rock. But the Hollywood star has made a more conventional foray into education by backing the use of TV subtitles to improve child literacy. Stephen Fry and the World Literacy Foundation also want parents to use their TV remotes to get children reading. So, could this simple click of a button be a solution to boost pupils’ reading skills? AQA’s resident expert on language teaching, Dr Katy Finch, casts her eye over the research to see whether it stacks up.

Data Analysis

What is left behind now education’s Data Wave has receded?

Is data the solution to all education’s issues? About a decade ago the prevailing wisdom said it was. Advocates of this Data Wave argued that harvesting internal statistics would help schools solve issues such as teacher accountability and attainment gaps. As with all waves, after crashing onto the beach they recede, leaving space for another to roll in. In this blog, teacher, author and data analyst Richard Selfridge looks at the legacy of the Data Wave to see what schools can take from it.

International Approaches

Finland & PISA – A fall from grace but still a high performer?

Finland was once recognised as one of the most successful educational systems in the world. At the turn of the millennium, it topped the PISA rankings in reading, maths and science. But by 2012, decline set in. The last set of results showed performances in maths, reading and science were at an all-time low. In this blog Dr Jonathan Doherty of Leeds Trinity University outlines some reasons that may account for the slide.

Briefing

PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS: What actually are they and what do they tell us?

According to the latest PISA results, England’s science scores are still on a downward trajectory that started a decade ago. Yet TIMSS, another respected study, has science performances rising. Which of them is right? Is one more valid than the other? In this blog AQi examines three International Large-Scale Assessments and finds that, although they may look the same from a distance, get up close and you’ll find they are very different beasts.

Adaptive Assessment

Adaptive Assessment: A missing ingredient in the resit recipe?

The number of students resitting their maths GCSE is growing, but the proportion getting a grade 4 or higher is falling. This situation is not only dispiriting for the young people striving to get the qualifications they need, but also for the teachers working hard to help them. How can outcomes for this cohort be improved? Bart Crisp, associate director at the Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education, thinks adaptive assessment may be part of the solution.

SEND

Student success: Every milestone matters

Baroness Morgan is calling for students to be given ‘self-belief’ lessons as a way of developing their characters and preparing them for the future. She is not the first to notice that a student’s sense of their own ability and their level of success are part of a virtuous circle. But how can teachers get the snowball rolling for students with SEND or in alternative provision? In this blog, former headteacher, John Tomsett, pulls out a swimming certificate he earned more than half a century ago to use as an inspiration for others.

Assessment

Progress 8 – How much can it flex?

Progress 8 has come in for criticism in recent months for the way it combines with the Ebacc to skew schools’ focus towards academic subjects at the expense of creative and technical options. Both Labour and a Lords committee have called for reform to boost uptake of declining subjects such as D&T, dance and drama. In the second of two blogs looking at Progress 8, AQi examines whether the accountability measure could be realigned to address these concerns and if so, how could that be done?

Assessment

Progress 8 – Schools’ flexible friend?

Eight years after Progress 8 came into existence it is facing calls to be updated. Some say reforming the schools accountability measure can halt the decline in take up of the arts, while others want it to boost numbers taking vocational and technical subjects. Are its shoulders broad enough to take on such a load? In the first of two blogs on Progress 8, AQi looks at how it came into being, what problems it was designed to solve and whether it is flexible enough to be reformed.

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On-line and on-demand: The future for assessing Numeracy, Literacy and Digital Fluency?

What do we mean by Numeracy, Literacy and Digital Fluency?

Why we need new assessments for Numeracy, Literacy and Digital Fluency

Seeing Numeracy, Literacy and Digital Fluency assessments as driving tests

Creating new assessments for Numeracy, Literacy and Digital Fluency is not a straightforward process

Through the looking glass: How polling the public can help policymakers learn about themselves

Assessing oracy: Is Comparative Judgement the answer?

TV subtitles as an aid to literacy: What does the research say?

What is left behind now education’s Data Wave has receded?

Finland & PISA – A fall from grace but still a high performer?

PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS: What actually are they and what do they tell us?

Adaptive Assessment: A missing ingredient in the resit recipe?

Student success: Every milestone matters

Progress 8 – How much can it flex?

Progress 8 – Schools’ flexible friend?

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Download a PDF version.

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