A study of Year Six teachers’ perspectives on the important aspects of teaching and assessing writing within maintained primary schools in England.

RQ: What do Year Six teachers perceive are the important aspects of teaching and assessing writing within maintained primary schools in England? Specifically, in relation to what they might teach versus what they have to teach and assess. This research investigated Year Six teachers’ perspectives of teaching writing, with a specific lens on the relationship between their personal views of and the statutory requirements for writing. It aimed to contribute greater clarity of teachers’ understanding of constructs of writing, through an exploration of their experiences and practices of teaching and assessing writing. The research used theoretical understandings from Ivanic (2004) on writing discourses, research on cognitive and sociocultural perspectives on writing and writing assessment. A qualitative methodology used data from semi structured interviews. The interview questions explored the role of writing, teacher understandings about writing, the influences on Year Six writing and the impact of policy. Deductive analysis using Ivanic’s (2004) discourses of writing considered writing in National Curriculum documents. Inductive coding was used to explore teachers’ views on writing, assessment and surveillance. While teachers viewed writing as complex, the NC (DfE, 2013) construct dominated their planning, teaching and assessment. The creativity writing discourse was important to the participants despite being non-statutory and receiving limited attention in class. The statutory requirements limited teacher agency. Composition writing was focused on addressing the assessment criteria through transmission teaching using exemplar materials and topic teaching. The participants saw transmission teaching as a dependable way of addressing the assessment criteria. The teaching of grammar for the test was significantly different where participants made little reference to non-statutory forms of writing. The Teacher Assessment Framework and the moderation process dominated assessment. The participants saw Performance Tables and OFSTED surveillance as significant accountability mechanisms. The contribution to new knowledge shows that the teachers’ wide understanding of writing is not wholly reflected in their teaching due to their focus on statutory writing. The participants’ classroom practice focused almost exclusively on addressing the assessment criteria.