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Education ministers 'in a time warp' as headteachers prepare for a Sats boycott
Tim Ross01.05.09
Headteachers accused ministers of "declaring war" on schools today by refusing to abolish Sats, amid fears of another marking fiasco within weeks.
Britain's biggest heads' union, the National Association of Head Teachers, is threatening to boycott primary school tests in a joint campaign with the National Union of Teachers to force Children's Secretary Ed Balls to change his mind.
The NAHT said ministers were "stuck in a time warp" and claimed the Government's "intransigent" attitude was forcing the country's most senior school professionals into drastic action.
A national boycott of next year's Sats would cause serious disruption to schools and make league tables impossible to compile. Ministers claim such action could be illegal.
The threat comes 10 days before 600,000 children sit their Sats tests in primary schools across England.
Unprecedented marking problems last year forced results for all pupils to be delayed.
Four London primaries never received their results and there are already signs of difficulties this year. Test papers delivered to one London primary school were apparently left in the playground overnight after a passer-by was asked to sign for them. They were only discovered in a box by the headteacher the following day.
The unions believe Sats revision takes up too much time in class and piles excessive pressure on children and teachers, damaging the quality of primary education.
Mick Brookes, NAHT general secretary, said delegates at the union's annual conference in Brighton would vote this weekend on whether to ballot members for a national boycott next year: "We don't want to go there. But do we want to continue to administer something that we know is disrupting children's education?
"The Government appears to be stuck in a time warp. These tests should be consigned to the past.
"A letter from (Schools Minister) Jim Knight to an MP said Sats were 'here to stay'. That sounds like a declaration of war to me."
The Government has commissioned a group of experts to review Sats, but Mr Balls hinted recently that Sats for 11-year-olds could remain with some relatively minor tweaks.
Reader views (3)
Ministers claim such an action 'COULD' be illegal! Er, don't they know. Aren't they supposed to be on top of their job. Why don't the 'Ministers' do something really radiacal, get the teachers to teach, those teachers with business accumen to manage, ie become Head Teachers, and get rid of all the PC brigades brilliant schemes. As it is we have a right Balls up, after all he is an economist, is he not, and look what they have done for the Banks and the treasury!!! They know the square root of damn all.
- Alan, carlisle uk
We should reject calls to abandon SATs in English schools unless and until literacy and numeracy rates for school leavers improve.
There has been a great deal of press coverage about teachers calling for SATs to be abandoned in England. Much of this focuses on the amount of classroom time devoted to "teaching to the test", and stress on pupils.
Good teachers and good schools do not do this - with good
teaching the pupils will bearly be aware that they are doing the tests.
Our pupils deserve good teaching, parents want to know whether the teachers and schools are effective. Too many pupils leave school at 16 unable to read and/or write. Until these rates improve we need testing through school to identify problems before it is too late.
Don't give in to teachers and unions - they are in effect complaining about bad teaching practice not bad tests. Help make this point to the government by supporting the petition at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Keep-SATs/.
- Andrew, London
I say ed balls as next labour leader after the next election. That'll keep labour out for ever!!
- Chris, Brighton, England
