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‘TRUST HEADS ON SATS,’ SAYS MINISTER ED
Balls urged to ‘see sense’ as he insists teachers won’t boycott tests
SCHOOLS Minister Ed Balls believes headteachers will not carry out their threatened boycott of SATs exams next year.
Confronted by the Tribune as he visited Thornhill Primary School on Tuesday, Mr Balls said the action would be a “hugely retrograde step”, adding “I don’t think headteachers I know will go along with that”.
Islington’s heads have joined the National Union of Teachers (NUT) in calling for a vote next month on whether they should refuse to oversee next year’s exams for 11-year-olds, which are used to create school league tables.
With the backlash against the tests gaining momentum, campaigners collected more than 100 parent signatures in just a few hours at a street stall in Angel. Headteachers, including Canonbury’s Sue Seifert, have said they would back a boycott.
They are challenging Mr Balls to “see sense” or face a humiliating teacher revolt next year. But the minister gave a firm “no” when quizzed by the Tribune on whether he would bow to their demands.
He said: “I think it would be a hugely retrograde step to go back to a world where parents didn’t know how their child had done and we didn’t know objectively which primary should be doing better. Those were bad days 15 years ago, I don’t want to go back to those days so I’m going to do the right thing for children and parents and that’s to keep the tests.”
The NUT and the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) are asking members: “Would you be willing to vote to boycott SATs”? Union chiefs say the consultative ballot has the broad support of members, especially in inner London.
But when asked what he thought of plans to boycott the exams, Mr Balls said: “Our headteachers are leaders, role models, they do a very important job. It’s really tough the job they do. They manage their budgets and are trying to drive the progress of every child so I think they do a great job and I don’t think headteachers I know will go along with that.
“We’ve an expert group who said don’t remove externally marked tests at 11, parents I speak to and our survey of parents show parents support keeping that objectively marked test at Year 6.”
Islington North Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn has taken issue with his party colleague, siding with headteachers.
He said: “I support the NUT policy on ending SATS. They are unnecessarily stressful on the children concerned. I support the headteachers in doing this but I hope before then we’ll see them abolished.
“It’s unfortunate we seem to put particularly primary school children through enormous stress and it’s unclear what the benefit is. Children should enjoy learning and bring them up in a way they will cherish and love learning not be frightened by it.”
The exams have provoked a mixed response from parents.
Sian Thomas, whose children attend Canonbury Primary School, said: “Both my children have taken SATS at the end of the year and both enjoyed the experience. They didn’t find it stressful.”
Parent Julie Hunt said: “I’m completely in support of the line the headteachers have taken. I’ve a daughter who’s just started the SATs for seven-year-olds. Her teachers are pretty good, I don’t know if they really support it. They try and put them at ease but the kids are still aware. It’s an added pressure. If I have a problem with my child I expect the school teachers to give me an analysis.”
And Amy Silverstone, who has three children under the age of 11, said: “Secondary schools need some information to work out how to stream incoming pupils. Where it goes wrong is if you have schools that are just teaching SATs because that’s got to be to the detriment of the children. Some schools are real hothouses, they really cram them. It depends on the regime of the school. You can do this in a way that terrorises the kids or you can give a fair assessment as to how they’ve progressed.”
Headteachers’ threat to boycott Sats tests
Two unions join forces to slam ‘nightmare’ exams
HEADTEACHERS and teachers in Islington are on a collision course with the government after minister Ed Balls told the Tribune he would not scrap Sats tests.
The National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) and National Union of Teachers (NUT) have for the first time joined forces to threaten to boycott the exams for 11-year-olds if the government does not axe them next year.
Former children’s laureate Michael Rosen told a campaign meeting in Islington Central Library on Thursday that a generation of children and teachers had been failed since the exams were introduced for 11-year-olds in 1995.
But Ed Balls told the Tribune that scrapping them would be “a retrograde step”, adding: “I’m going to do the right thing for children and parents and that’s to keep the tests.”
Mr Rosen has been campaigning around the country against the idea “that children only learn if you test them”.
He said: “I am probably the longest living parent of school kids – 30 years non stop – and I’ve got a four year old just started.
“In that time, education has always been focused on the child. But that principle is just being wiped out with Sats. They do not deal with ideas, imagination or feeling.”
Mr Rosen, whose parents Connie and Harry were teachers, had his daughter’s Sats exam worksheet about a scene from the Greek myth Persius and Gorgons.
He said: “The worksheet asks questions about this scene but not about the whole story. It asks who is giving Perseus his shield – not why he is giving his shield.
“This kind of testing means children are not being taught stories anymore, they are just being trained to interpret sections of stories.”
Mr Rosen produced a letter from an education manager in Hackney after he challenged the council over the problem. It read: “If children from mixed abilities studied lengthy stories in full most children would lose concentration.”
Teachers at the meeting told how they were forced to scrap fun lessons to train children to understand how to pass Sats. Because Government league tables are based on the exam results, schools often focus too much attention on their pass rates.
Canonbury headteacher Sue Seifert said: “It is not just children but teachers that need to be released from the Sats. A generation of teachers are being de-skilled. The training for them is not creative.
“In any case, secondary schools no longer trust our Sats results – so the kids just get re-retested when they start their new school. It is just education by rote.”
She added: “Before I die, I’d love to get rid of this sledgehammer hanging over us every year.”
South London Teacher Jess Edwards, from the Anti Sats Alliance, said: “Sats have been a nightmare. We are letting down generations.”
Islington National Union of Teachers (NUT), which organised the meeting, and the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) have agreed to hold a consultative ballot over whether members should boycott next year’s exams. It is the first time headteachers have officially joined the protest over Sats testing.
Ed Balls scrapped Sats for 14-year-olds earlier this year but the the tests remain for primary school pupils. He told the Tribune on Tuesday he would not scrap Sats and did not believe headteachers would back the boycott.
He added: “We’ve an expert group who said don’t remove externally marked tests at 11, parents I speak to and our survey of parents show parents support keeping that objectively marked test at Year 6.
“I think it would be a hugely retrograde step to go back to a world where parents didn’t know how their child had done and we didn’t know objectively which primary should be doing better. Those were bad days 15 yrs ago, I don’t want to go back to those days so I’m going to do the right thing for children and parents and that’s to keep the tests.”
Paul Atkin, from Islington NUT, said his union would begin polling members about a potential boycott in November. |
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