students to miss Sats
 

Tens of thousands of primary school children are expected to miss their Sats tomorrow as a boycott of the tests kicks off across the country.

Rising numbers of schools in England have confirmed they will be joining a boycott, with headteachers at more than 1,000 schools already informing their local authorities they will not be administering the tests.

At its annual conference in Liverpool last weekend, the NAHT claimed its members were being threatened with the prospect of having their pay docked for taking part.




Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz0nRVrC7n9


i was always under the impression that heads and teachers alike where paid to do there job not dictate what they believe is right or wrong in the education system and dictate Government policy .
or am i missing something here ?

Re: students to miss Sats
 

I'm not impressed that students are being used as pawns in the teachers' politics.

I'm not that up on SATs these days. Would missing them mean them any kind of hardship for them in the future?

Re: students to miss Sats
 

Yes you are missing something, in fact a lot. SATs test have been used over the years to score political points and have become less and less to do with the educating children in a stimulating and creative way, rather as a means of forcing children (and teachers) to jump through hoops/pass exams. Headteachers and teachers realise that they are accountable and that there has to be a a way of measuring a child's educational progress, indeed every school has to already have a rigourous system of continual assessment in place. The unions have been attempting to enter dialogue for up to six years now, but so far they have refused to adapt or change the process despite the children/teachers of Scotland, Wales and NI ditching these test years ago. Teachers are paid to teach and the vast majority of them do this essential and demanding job well, but they are not unthinking "sausage factory" mentality workers, they are continually encouraged to inovate, stimulate and improve their practice, not simply blindly follow orders. In order for this boycott to come about has taken these same free thinking people years to make a stand. Anyone who has had an eleven year old go through the system of SATs know that the pressure to perform has become about statistics and not children. If you read the Mail you will get the impression we should all be good little workers and see education that is "done to someone " not "with them."

Read this if you genuinely want to learn more, it's a little less black and white than you may think.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8623363.stm

---------- Post added at 16:05 ---------- Previous post was at 16:03 ----------

No, they are assessed again before Christmas in every secondary school. Children in the UK are the most tested children in Europe!

Re: students to miss Sats
 

I regard exams of any sort as a measure of the teachers' abilities, and not just the student's comprehension. Maybe teachers are afraid of being shown up?

Re: students to miss Sats
 

andy, you did't answer papa's question - are the teachers/heads not legally obliged, as part of their job description, to carry out the tests?

Re: students to miss Sats
 

Despite my previous message, I do agree that it is too late that the SATs are being boycotted this year, children and teachers have worked to hard to simply not do them. I also agree that this has political motivation and and the timing in ralation to the General Election is clearly designed to bring the debate to a head and possible a conclusion, but faced with a situation that historically has not been even open for discussion from the government, I can't see another way of at least forcing whatever government we get to at least examine the possibility that the present format of testing at 11 is flawed and can be improved.

---------- Post added at 16:16 ---------- Previous post was at 16:10 ----------

Yes they are. We should all carry on as we are then. The people who are the "experts" should be dismissed and government official should replace them... or there should be debate about how to improve the assessment procedures would better serve the needs of the children, employers and still require a commitment of accountability from the teaching profession. Personally I would like to think that government and the teachers ultimately want the same thing.

Shown up... for what?

Re: students to miss Sats
 

ballot box comes to mind-- you vote for a party that shares your views and then await the outcome of the election ,not descend into anarchy and i fail to see how this is a matter for the unions .

Re: students to miss Sats
 

Anarchy!! We are talking about educational discussion and one aspect of education, namely assessment of 11 years old. Teachers aren't going to be marching on parliament elbow patch next to elbow patch!! Lol Listen at the end of the dayI accept everyones point of view and realise that inevitably anything that involves education is going to be in someway political. I don't think that boycotting the SATs is ideal for anyone, but if ultimately if the assessment procedure can be improveD (because even the government) acknowledges this, as they scrapped the Science SAT at the end of Y6 last year and SATs for 14yr olds 2 years ago) Then that can only be the sign of a forward thinking government and a progressive education system.

Re: students to miss Sats
 

so why are the teachers boycotting this years tests if the government have acknowledged room for improvement ?

Re: students to miss Sats
 

Because they want to make sure that the system is "improved" soon, so that they "grasp the nettle", the best time to do this has to be at the start of a new governement. Once a government has been in power for a reasonable amount of time they are always open to ya/boo politics, they will inevitable be accused of either (percieved lowering of educational standards or of government meddling)

Re: students to miss Sats
 

i don't think that they are doing themselves any favours though ,the timing would seem to be a little bit off .surely the best time to address this issue would be WHEN we have a new government ,as it stands they just look like they are spoiling for a fight and since the tory policy is to replace the 11yr test with one at 14 anyway what's their problem ?

Re: students to miss Sats
 

Because no suggestions have been forthcoming..and I'm not defending the actions of the teachers boycotting these SATS tests.It's very unfair to do this to children who have been 'practising' to pass them for months.

The trouble is that the government likes SATs tests because they make it look like they are doing something about education and they can be made into league tables.

The SATs for 14 year olds were a waste of time.There is no need for tests in Year 9 with students about to choose options for GCSEs.It meant they were being externally examined 3 years in a row.I also never thought that SATs tests were particularly effective during the earlier years at primary education either as children develop at differing rates when they are so much younger(I'm coming to the conclusion that children should start school later anyway).

Negotiation should be the way..not boycotting.

---------- Post added at 16:57 ---------- Previous post was at 16:55 ----------

Big mistake on the Tories part because unless they are GCSE orientated I fail to see how any test at 14 can be of any use to the students.:rolleyes:

Re: students to miss Sats
 

Agreed, teachers are always open to this arguement and I don't think that any worker in any profession could be accused of good timing when it comes to an issue that has got to the stage that a boycott is a real possibility. I think the real anxiety with those not actually involved in the debate is fuelled by the evocative word "scrapping," it not only brings with it the connotation that this is a "fight" but also the perception that that the "scrapping" will lead to the creation of a vaccuum that will be filled by "beardy" teachers who think that children should float through the education system, without accountablity or rigor. That teachers will breeze in at 9am and leave with the children at 3:30 without a care in the world safe in the knowledge that they will not be sacked and their long holidays is their right. The system has to be rigorous and have at it's heart assessment that lead to future planning and quality teaching. I am one of those. Teachers to some extent enjoyed this luxury in the 60s and 70s, but slowly the barometer has swung too far, to the point where politician are increasingly using educational data as a political football to score points of each other an not as a tool for assessing the progress of individual pupils and the performance of individual schools.

---------- Post added at 17:10 ---------- Previous post was at 17:05 ----------

The introduction of single level testing and a version of Assessing Pupils Progress to ascertain the child level before taking them would be a step in the right direction. That alongside removing published league tables would help.

Re: students to miss Sats
 

i agree with that ,it does seem pointless to re-introduce the test for 14 yr olds as that is when they are choosing options for their future education ,which having just gone through that is quite stressfull enough for the child ..and the parent

Re: students to miss Sats
 

My son starts his sats tomorrow.

We had a meeting at the school and the staff told us that while they were not in favour of the sats, they were not prepared to disadvantage the children who had been preparing for the tests.

The high school my son is moving up to streams the pupils for English and Maths. The sats results form the basis for that streaming to enable pupils to work with others of similar ability.
Whilst I appreciate they may have concerns,the refusal of some staff to administer these tests is a selfish, thoughtless act imo.:(

Re: students to miss Sats
 

I've enjoyed the debate, I'm sure that time will tell. Good luck to all those children taking the tests this coming week, do your best that's all anyone wants and remember you're 11, in the great scheme of things ultimately these tests are but a tiny part of your future successes... I'm off to get beat on the playstation by my 9 year old! :)

Re: students to miss Sats
 

If this had happened at Flyboy9's and Flyboy11's school, there would have been a parental revolt. Our children have been training for these exams for a long time and have been looking forward to them for sometime. I truly do not believe that the headteachers who have refused to take part in these exams really have the best interests of the children as their priority. I would like to see the recent results of the school's who have carried out these boycotts.

Re: students to miss Sats
 

i totally agree .

Re: students to miss Sats
 

Re: students to miss Sats
 

Huh?

Re: students to miss Sats
 

Sorry - Opera Mini didn't handle that post at all well. I'll try again! :)

I meant to ask why you believe the teachers are boycotting the exams, if the interests of the children is not their priority.

In my opinion the problem is not the missed exam, it's the amount of time spent preparing for exams which are unnecessary and which do not lead to any meaningful qualification at the end of it. All of the time spent preparing for these exams (and I don't just mean Sats) is time taken away from real education.

I know several teachers who loved their job but have left because they simply don't feel that they're doing any teaching anymore. It's all about exam results, league tables and statistics. It doesn't benefit the children, the schools, the schools/colleges/universities they subsequently move to, or employers once they leave the education system.

---------- Post added at 18:47 ---------- Previous post was at 18:45 ----------

No. None whatsoever. :)

Re: students to miss Sats
 

Some, I would imagine, are concerned that many of their students will not pass their exams. If they had their students' best interests in mind, they would not have put them through the revision processes, incurring the stress that they say it places them under.

What do you think should replace them? How are parents (and just as important, the DCFS), supposed to judge how the schools are performing?

Yet so many more seem to cope quite well.

Re: students to miss Sats
 

I have to say I've been rather disturbed by the way students are educated.It's about getting on with the syllabus but not about making sure that they have a basis to build on.Many,many times I've felt that a group have not grasped a subject in any depth before they are moved on to the next bit of the syllabus and the relevent boxes get ticked off.The problem is that later when they have to get to the next stage(particularly in maths,languages,English and science) because they didn't grasp the basics the year before they have difficulty the next year when a subject is revisited at the next stage they should be at.Some students especially the lower ability groups never can quite catch up.And yet if they were given more time in the first place they might possibly raise their standard to the next keystage level.

Re: students to miss Sats
 

that is probably the best argument against sat testing i have heard Maggie ,and exactly the problem you describe has affected my younger son (14yrs) in maths ,he was struggling with some prime number homework ,which i believe is first taught in primary school he struggled then to grasp the subject but extra time was not given to ensure his understanding and so when it was revisited this year he is again struggling

Re: students to miss Sats
 

You're probably right, although I doubt it's the majority of them or even a significant minority. And if the pupils don't pass the exams does this necessarily reflect badly on the teachers or the school (or anyone else for that matter)?

I don't think anything should replace them. The education system seemed to manage okay before Sats were introduced and I don't think any parent who takes an interest in their child's education needs exam results to judge a school's performance. Nor do I think exam results are a good benchmark for a school's performance for anyone other than statisticians.

Just to clarify - my comment about parents who take an interest not needing exam results to judge a school's performance was not intended as a dig (in case it came across as one)! You obviously do take an interest and an active role in your children's education. Surely you'd know if their school wasn't performing up to standard?

I didn't say they left because they weren't coping. They left because teaching has been replaced by endless exam-prep. Sats start at the end of infant school for crying out loud. Infants shouldn't be sitting exams of any kind - it's just wrong. And they have another 10+ years at least of exam preparation ahead of them.

---------- Post added at 19:18 ---------- Previous post was at 19:16 ----------

Absolutely spot on!

Re: students to miss Sats
 

Infants should be learning through play not sitting exams.It's utterly ridiculous the way they are put through this considering that at that age they develop in spurts not in a steady even manner.:rolleyes:

Re: students to miss Sats
 

I would suggest that it is more than a significant minority.

The results of these test are not just for parents who have children at a school, but for prospective parents. How would they judge the performance of a school? Parents who already have children at a school must be allow3d to know the overall performance at a school so that they can take action of they find that the school is failing. Either by working with the school to help raise the standards, or to withdraw the children to a better school, for which they will need to know how well that school is doing.

But, as I intimated, many teachers do not find these tests any more stretching than other parts of their work. In fact, since SATs were introduced, almost twenty years ago, there have been many changes in classroom management, not least with the introduction, with increasing numbers, of classroom assistants, in the form of TAs, LSAs and SSAs. Time off for preparation, for example, with many other things that have made teachers lives more manageable. There are many things in today's schools which impact heavily on the work load of teachers, reducing their ability to teach effectively and tests are part of that, but unless they are replaced with something that will reliably provide the same information, they are here to stay.

There are not any exams at key stage one. SATs are teacher based assessments, not tests.