Tories to scrap primary school Sats

Sunday, 14 June 2009

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The Conservatives are to propose scrapping all primary school Sats tests for 11-year-olds in England, it was reported today.

Shadow schools secretary Michael Gove will outline plans to replace the controversial exams with national tests in the first year of secondary school, the BBC said.

These would be marked by their teachers rather than external examiners, it is proposed.

By switching the tests to secondary school, the last year of primary education would be freed up for teaching, Mr Gove will reportedly argue.

He will also say the results of tests taken at secondary school would be more accurate and could also reduce duplication as many secondary schools already test new pupils, said the BBC.

Two of the biggest teaching unions are planning to boycott next year's Sats - which are examined in Maths, English and Science.

The National Association of Head Teachers and the NUT said they distorted the curriculum as they resulted in "teaching to the test", where pupils are trained to learn just what they need to pass, at the expense of a broader education.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families has warned that head teachers have a statutory duty to administer the tests, and to not do so would be unlawful.

Last month Schools Secretary Mr Balls accepted a review body's recommendation that Sats science tests for 11-year-olds be abolished in favour of teacher assessment.

But the review expert group said maths and English tests were useful to parents and should remain.

Mr Balls scrapped Sats for 14-year-olds in England last October after a fiasco over the marking of exam papers, but they remain for seven and 11-year-olds.

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Tories to scrap primary school Sats

nigel1992 wrote:

Sunday, 14 June 2009 at 11:03 am (UTC)

This is not what they said at all. All they are planning to do is to move them from the Summer of Year 6 to the Autumn of Year 7 (i.e. about 3 months). They are also planning to stop paying for external marking and make secondary school teachers mark the tests. Most importantly from a primary perspective, the results will be tracked back and league tables for primaries will continue to be produced based on the results they achieve in September.

There are a huge number of issues with this plan. First of all, primary schools will be judged by tests marked by teachers with a vested interest in depressing the results. Schools are judged by progress made in school and heads continually put pressure on teachers to mark down when attainment on entry is considered.

Secondly, if the results are to be used for accountability for primary, there will need to be an extensive moderation system in place. The internal marking will be hugely variable (most school improvement professionals wll tell you that teacher assessment is much more accurate in primary than in secondary). Moderation on this scale will be much more expensive than the current testing system.

Thirdly, it will make no difference to the experience of pupils in Year 6, one of the key concerns about the existing system. Primary schools will have to continue to focus on English and maths at the expense of other subjects because they will continue to be judged by results in the same tests.

Fourthly, it will be a very short time before a huge cottage industry develops around Summer Schools. Schools will have to support children during the holidays or see their results collapse due to 'summer learning loss' and issues around transfer.

Fifthly, secondary teachers will not jump up and down in celebration at the opportunity to mark thousands of SATs papers. Although Michael Gove suggested that many secondary schools test on entry, the majority (and particularly the best schools) don't.

I could go on and on, but I won't. What I will say is that improving teacher assessment to the point where it can be used reliably for accountability, transfering teacher assessment information rather than test results and engaging primary and secondary schools in cross phase moderation so that everyone understands and agrees with each other's judgements is much more sensible, much more professional and much cheaper.

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This is what teachers did 30 years ago

larkspur_14 wrote:

Sunday, 14 June 2009 at 02:30 pm (UTC)

before Sir Keith Joseph's "reforms" began the take-over of education by ideologically driven monetarists, management gurus and privateers.

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Assessment and testing

sjkillman wrote:

Sunday, 14 June 2009 at 07:28 pm (UTC)

Nigel1992 - primary schools will still have to report on reading, writing and mathematics attainment as they always have done ,and it will probably be extended to the end of each Year group, so that parents and Ofsted can see the progress of individual pupils, groups of pupils and whole school targets - take a look at Ofsted's revised Framework now online. The actual standardised tests will be used in Year 7 and marked by teachers - good, it will give them all experience of more exacting standards. Schools should be held accountable, and parents need to know how their children are doing from year to year. Parents will also be able to trigger an inspection if they dont like what's going on - fantastic. Good primary school teachers ensure that children's vocabulary, reading, writing and their mathematical skills are developed across all subjects - nothing wrong with that either. If you hadn't noticed, summer schools have been in existance for at least six years, mostly in inner city secondary schools to help children catch up on the poor education they received in primary. Finally, most secondary schools use end of year SATs tests, and also for ongoing assessments to test the children's understanding and plan their next steps for learning - nothing wrong with that either.

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