A brief description of the Spelling Profile Assessment: a new UK spelling test for primary school age children (pilot phase)

Niolaki, G, Vousden, J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7237-1490, Terzopoulos, A, Purser, H ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3307-8421, Kohnen, S and Masterson, J, 2025. A brief description of the Spelling Profile Assessment: a new UK spelling test for primary school age children (pilot phase). Assessment and Development Matters, 17 (4), pp. 11-17. ISSN 2040-4069

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Abstract

The brief paper summarises why the Spelling Profile Assessment (SPA) is a necessary tool for primary school teachers, SENCos, and specialist assessors in identifying children’s spelling strengths and weaknesses. As we highlight below, spelling is essential for writing, which is an important everyday skill, especially in societies where the use of social media and devices continues to increase the need for written communication. Even if reading difficulties are mitigated, spelling difficulties often persist into adulthood. Thus, being able to intervene early is important towards addressing learners’ helplessness, aversion towards writing or general literacy-related activities, anxiety and depression. We summarise the extremely positive results from our pilot study, conducted between 2017 and 2019, and the next steps we took in creating a powerful assessment tool that currently does not exist in the UK or other English-speaking countries.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Assessment and Development Matters
Creators:	Niolaki, G., Vousden, J., Terzopoulos, A., Purser, H., Kohnen, S. and Masterson, J.
Publisher:	The British Psychological Society
Date:	14 November 2025
Volume:	17
Number:	4
ISSN:	2040-4069
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.53841/bpsadm.2025.17.4.11 DOI 2531997 Other
Rights:	This is a pre-publication version of the following article: Niolaki, G., Vousden, J., Terzopoulos, A., Purser, H., Kohnen, S., & Masterson, J. (2025). A brief description of the Spelling Profile Assessment: a new UK spelling test for primary school age children (pilot phase). Assessment and Development Matters, 17(4), 11-17. https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsadm.2025.17.4.11
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Jeremy Silvester
Date Added:	10 Dec 2025 11:29
Last Modified:	10 Dec 2025 11:29
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/54851

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