Lesley Auger: We're concerned about the narrowing of the curriculum, the stifling of creativity

From the president's address at the National Union of Teachers conference, in Harrogate

The measurement of targets – the Sats process itself – is way past its use-by date. The union is rightly concerned about the workload issues raised by Sats: workload that is increasing year on year. But we're just as concerned, if not more so, about the consequent narrowing of the curriculum, the stifling of creativity, the teaching to the test.

These consequences of a testing regime are ignored at our peril; we are forced to acknowledge them as long as league tables pit school against school; as long as parents are able to shop around for the so-called "best" schools; and as long as teachers are compelled to accept performance management targets that are based on the measurable performance of children.

A friend of mine, a teacher of a class of five-year-old boys, was met by a tearful child one morning; the child's grandfather had died the previous day. The child was inconsolable and the rest of the class wanted to know what was happening. It was soon clear that many of them had a similar story to tell. My friend looked at the targets for the first lesson lying on her desk: should she abandon the lesson and discuss this important event with the children? She did, but later she was mortified that she had even contemplated continuing with the lesson. This is symptomatic of the pressures upon teachers to get through the prescribed targets at the expense of the immediate needs of the children.

The pre-Sats foundation stage profile adds yet another dimension to formal assessment that has the potential to create a burdensome workload for our early years members as well as to provide a tailor-made system for the Government to hijack to use for value-added school performance tables. We must monitor this initiative very carefully.

Colleagues, governors and parent groups have expressed deep concerns about Sats. A group of children's authors and illustrators has come out against Sats. A survey in the Times Educational Supplement has revealed very high levels of opposition to Sats amongst all teachers, and our members, in our own survey, have said they don't want Sats.

We have a proud history of reform and a strong sense of justice and values. If we all work together we must be able to bring this invidious regime to an end.