SATs Update
Key Stage 3
After the outrageous mess of this year’s SATs marking, the government has decided to end SATs in Key Stage 3. A cause for celebration amongst Secondary Teachers. It is still unclear as yet what these will be replaced with, but it is likely to be some form of teacher assessment that will be externally sampled and moderated.
Primary
Of course, there are no celebrations in Primary Schools as Key Stage 1 and 2 SATs are here to stay. This means for many teachers and pupils there will continue to be not only SATs at the end of Key Stage 1 and 2 but, also, QCA ‘optional’ tests at the end of every year from Year 3 to 5. A continuation then of the misery faced by many of our pupils as the dreaded tests approach.
Even the suggested replacements of SATs with one off tests when individual children are considered to have reached a level appear to be a non starter. This is probably not a bad thing as they are likely to cause more work for teachers and just as much stress on children.
Damaging to children
There is overwhelming evidence that SATs damage children and constrict the curriculum, particularly in Year 6 where there is over emphasis on the core subjects. This is only the case in England not in Scotland and Wales that have abolished the tests. Even a recent report from a committee of MPs stated “the inappropriate use of national testing could lead to damaging consequences”.
League Tables
So why the need to continue with the current testing regime? The answers quite simple: to provide information for league tables of schools. It’s no coincidence that the government are now considering to extend the National Challenge for schools to Primary. The SATs results will then be used to label some schools as ‘failing’ and facing possible closure if they fail to reach a floor target in the region of 65%.
Parents
The key to any campaign against SATs is winning the support of parents. One argument for keeping SATs is that parents need to be kept informed of their child’s progress and that having levels makes this easier. However, how many of us have spent a large proportion of time at parents’ evenings explaining what the levels mean? This time would be better spent informing parents exactly what their child knows and understands and what they need to learn next.
By producing well explained leaflets highlighting why SATs are damaging and necessary and giving them out to parents we are likely to win their support.
Teacher Assessment
Teacher assessment is an activity that occurs every day in every lesson in one form or another. - It provides far more accurate information than a one off test.
- It is assessment for learning rather than assessment of learning.
- It informs both students and teachers of where they are currently, where they need to get to and how they can get there.
We use this kind of formative assessment ever single day. We all look at the progress achieved in a lesson and use that to decide what to teach next. We look at individual children’s work and responses and decide whether they ‘got it’. And yes we sometimes even test the children with the odd spelling test or mental maths quiz but this is purely based on what they have learned and is carried out in a non threatening way.
To not listen to or believe in teacher assessment is denying our professionalism and our ability to make judgements. It clearly undermines us as teachers. But this is exactly what happens when the government relies on the results of SATs and when they are used to make judgements about us in Performance Management.
Next steps
Last year’s SATs debacle will clearly make it easier for us to persuade parents that SATs are pointless and damaging. Any parent of a Year 7 or Year 10 child will know what their child went through to achieve their results last year. They will, also, know how they felt when they were told not to trust them they could have been wrongly marked if marked at all.
Most parents will be aware of this and won’t need persuading that there is a better way of keeping them informed of their child’s or the school’s progress.
The best place to start campaigning for the removal of Primary SATs is therefore at the school gates with petitions and leaflets.
Or we could follow the suggestion of Mike Baker the BBC education correspondent: “Perhaps the best way to get rid of the tests at age 11 would be for a group of primary teachers to win the contract for next year's test marking, to then make a mess of it, and so force ministers into another precipitate decision next year.” |