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National testing of pupils on the increase across Europe
16 september 2009

National testing of pupils on the increase across Europe

Pupils in Europe take on average three national tests during compulsory education, with some countries testing up to ten or eleven times, according to a report presented today by the European Commission. Regular national tests have been widely established across Europe in the recent past as a means both to inform education policy and practice and to guide the school career of pupils.

The Commission's report "National Testing of Pupils in Europe: Objectives, Organisation and Use of Results", which is based on the work of the Eurydice network, gives a comprehensive picture of Europe-wide patterns and trends regarding the objectives, frequency and scope of national tests in compulsory education. It also looks at the use made of test results in the 30 European countries covered (EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway).

The European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, Ján Figel', said: "Reliable information on pupil performance is key to successful and targeted education policies. So, it is not surprising that in the past two decades national tests have emerged as an important tool to measure performance in education. However, I see nation-wide tests as only one type of pupil assessment, which needs to be balanced with other practices so as to avoid over-testing. Rather than only grade pupils, such tests should be there to help them improve."

Key messages of the report:
  • National tests for validation of learning and performance monitoring have become a regular practice in most European countries
  • Frequency and scope of national tests vary across countries
  • Only a few countries publish school test results or consider them in school evaluation

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