SATs 'not supposed to be stressful'

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Schools should not be "stressing the children" by warning them that the tests are coming up or asking their parents to help prepare them to do their best, he said.

SATs day should be treated as the same as any other day of the school week, and pupils should not even be aware that they are being tested.

His comments come amid growing concern over the pressure being put on children because of the level of testing in British schools.

A report from the Commons Schools Committee called in May for the system of compiling national results from tests at seven, 11 and 14 to be abandoned, warning that the widespread practice of drilling pupils for tests was "distorting" their education.

Mr Balls told the New Statesman magazine: "The best headteachers will ensure that no six or seven-year-old knows they are doing SATs. I promise you that is the case.

"If you are telling pupils in Year 2 that they are doing SATs next week then that's the wrong thing to do. You should not be stressing the children."

SATs tests at seven are not intended to "grade" the children but to establish the level of ability that the school is dealing with.

Mr Balls said it was "totally the wrong thing to do" if schools treat them as a big event for which pupils need to be prepared in order to excel.

"They don't need to do the SATs in a sit-down environment," he said. "It's something that can be done as part of the school day. Honestly. And there are loads of schools doing that."