Commentary on Sections Part 7: Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation Chapter 3: Functions in relation to assessment arrangements
468.The Secretary of State is responsible for specifying the arrangements for pupil assessments in relation to each of the key stages of the NC (see section 87 of the Education Act 2002). The Secretary of State is also responsible for specifying the arrangements which are required for assessing the achievements of children in relation to the learning and development requirements of the EYFS (see sections 39 to 42 of the Childcare Act 2006). In this context, the Secretary of State may impose functions on other bodies in relation to developing, implementing or monitoring assessment arrangements. Ofqual’s role, under the new arrangements delivered through this Act, is to keep these assessment arrangements under review and to report to Parliament on the assessment arrangements and how well they are achieving their purposes. The arrangements are intended to strengthen the assessment system, and to help improve public confidence following the problems with delivery of NC tests in 2008. The Government asked Lord Sutherland to investigate what went wrong with NC test delivery in 2008, the reasons for the problems experienced and what should be done to avoid a recurrence in future years. The Government accepted all the recommendations in his report(1), and the provisions in this Act reflect those recommendations.