In June 2013, the Department for Education (DfE) announced that it would be removing national curriculum levels from September 2014 and would not be replacing them. Since this point, it has been up to schools to decide how they would track pupil progress as they implemented the new national curriculum. The removal of levels signified a major change for schools, many of which would have used levels since they were introduced with the first national curriculum in 1988.
Governing boards at both primary and secondary schools would have used levels to monitor pupil progress and hold the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school. We are aware that many governing boards have found the transition away from levels challenging, and this Q&A will answer some of the common questions about assessment without levels.