In June 2013, Michael Gove MP, the then Secretary of State for Education announced that as part of reforms to the national curriculum, the art and design 'levels', used to report children's attainment and progress, would be removed and not be replaced.
The programmes of study set out what should be taught by the end of each key stage. Schools have the freedom to develop a curriculum which is relevant to their pupils and enables them to meet these expectations.
Schools are required to use their own approaches to formative assessment, to support pupil attainment and progression. The assessment framework should be built into the school curriculum, so that schools can check what pupils have learned and whether they are on track to meet expectations at the end of the key stage, and so that they can report regularly to parents.
Ofsted's inspections are informed by whatever pupil tracking data schools choose to keep.
The Society was supportive of the removal of 'levels' but was aware that a vacuum has emerged in its place. In consultation with the art, craft and design education community and experts in assessment and progression we prepared The Framework for Progression, Planning for Learning, Assessment, Recording and Reporting as a guide for teachers working at Key Stages 1-3, and including reference to the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 4.
The Framework for Progression, Planning for Learning, Assessment, Recording and Reporting is a members' only content. Please login to view the files.
In addition, an older document first produced by QCA exemplifies standards in Art & Design through the old Level statements. This document exemplifies an approach to project planning as sequences of learning in several media and techniques in each Level. Assessment statements by the teacher, pupil self-assessment and QCA observations all help to model effective assessment of standards and approaches to assessment and progression. You can view the document here.