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As the
National Union of
Teachers
joins forces with the
National
Association of Head Teachers
in a campaign to see the end to SATs we can say,
finally,
“SATs Enough!”
“SATs damage
children, teachers and the entire education process.”
So says the NUT, the NAHT and many, many other organisations
including
“Parents Aloud!”
(ex-National Confederation of PTAs)
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And this
government imposed damage is in the service of their “Public
Service Reform” agenda – to break up state education into
competing edu-businesses – as this article explains.
SATs undermine our
professionalism, forcing us to teach to the test. They
narrow the curriculum, paring it down to the minimum
required by the test. They create a “target group” of pupils
– those on “borderlines” whose “results” become key to the
school meetings its targets. They create a sense of
competitiveness amongst children, and a sense of failure
amongst many. They force a regime of coaching and practice
testing, which replaces creative, exploratory and dynamic
learning processes. They fit the statisticians’ view of
education, which is all to do with ever escalating targets
and percentages, rather than the professional view, which is
to do with the education of the whole child by a teacher
responsive to their actual needs and interests.
And the SATs
results tell us only how good children are at taking tests,
and how good teachers are at training them to take the tests
– nothing to do with how well children are learning
generally, and what their teacher needs to do to develop
them further.
We predicted
all this in 1993 when SATs were first imported from the USA.
We’ve been campaigning ever since. There are now no SATs in
Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland or the Isle of Man. They
all agree with us about them. The Secretary of State, Ed
Balls, suddenly U-turned on Key Stage 3 SATs and did away
with them in the hope that it would weaken our opposition to
all SATs. It didn’t work. So now he has abolished the
Science test at Key Stage 3 for the same reason. It won’t
work. In fact, abolishing the Science tests will make the
effect of SATs even worse, as the curriculum for year 6 will
narrow even further!
“We predicted all this in 1993 when SATs were first imported
from USA . . .“
So why is the
Government so insistent on keeping these discredited tests?
The fact is that is NOTHING to do with education, and
EVERYTHING to do with the Government’s political strategy of
“reforming” public services – fragmenting the education
service into “increasingly independent” competing schools,
with a growing role for the private business sector in
running them – leading towards full-blown privatisation.
So the KS2
SATs are essential to them, so that they can publish “league
tables”, creating an internal market in education where
parents are encouraged to “shop around”, to choose schools,
and vie with each other to get their children in, while
other schools lose pupils and suffer the consequent budget
cuts and loss of teachers.
The Government make no
secret of this. The following is an extract from
“The Government’s Approach
To Public Service Reform”
from the PM’s Strategy Unit
2006.
Given these goals, the Government’s
approach to public service reform has four main elements:
-
top down
performance management (pressure from government);
-
the
introduction of greater competition and contestability
in the provision of public services;
-
the
introduction of greater pressure from citizens including
through choice and voice; and
-
measures
to strengthen the capability andcapacity of civil and
public servants and of central and local government to
deliver improved public services.
Performance management – and its “top
down” nature based on “pressure” is well known to us – and
is directly linked to targets and SATs testing through the
“pupil performance” aspect.
“Competition and contestability” (the
latter being a more acceptable word than “privatisation” as
far as government is concerned) are the long term aims - not
just an “element”
Pressure from citizens and “choice and
voice” need to be based on some “evidence” – thus the
government’s defence of the misleading KS2 SATs and league
tables
And if you don’t fit in with this narrow
number-crunching distortion of education – well, there are
“measures” to “strengthen” your “capability and capacity”…
so watch it! “We have ways of making you conform….”
Through our dogged campaigning, we have
effectively won the argument. Of course, there are concerns
expressed about what might replace SATS and whether it would
cause teachers more work. We know that what should replace
SATs is teacher assessment – and there’s already plenty of
that going on alongside SATs, so there is NO need for any
MORE work – in fact there will be considerably
less-but-better work as we go on from the abolition of SATs
to establishing professional control over teacher assessment
too.
As we look at the general political scene
– corrupt politicians promoting private sector control of
public services (despite the fact that the private sector is
in crisis due to the greed culture of the system) – its easy
to get cynical and pessimistic.
This campaign gives us the opportunity to
stand up together for our professionalism, and for the
children we teach against the political manipulation of our
service. We in the NUT are proud of our history of
opposition to SATs, and proud to be in the lead again as the
resolve of “the other side” begins to crumble, and the unity
of our side is renewed. Just one more push! If they do not
abolish all SATs by 2010, we WILL boycott them.
This will be the last year of this
government imposed child abuse!
SATs – from the perspective of
an ‘ex’ Year 6 teacher.
Preparation for SATs often began in my
school from September -depending on the cohort of Year 6
pupils. If the cohort was deemed ‘poor’ in the three core
curriculum areas after-school booster sessions were started
immediately. All children were expected to attend and the
school contacted parents if their son/daughter fell below a
certain attendance level – hard luck for those pupils who
had an outside ‘fun’ interest on those afternoons! If the
cohort was deemed ‘good’ their extended school sessions were
started after Christmas but then the same rules applied.
As well as booster sessions the
curriculum was increasingly taken over by SATs preparation
as May drew nearer and nearer and nearer! Photocopying
bills increased dramatically as past papers were churned out
at an alarming rate – at least planning became easier even
if marking was a huge time-commitment! And for those lucky
children ’on the cusp’ extra individual/small group
intervention strategies with a TA or a supply teacher!
The effect on the children?
Well to be honest it varied. Those who
enjoyed academic success in Literacy, Numeracy and Science
often seemed to enjoy their chance to ‘shine’. However
children whose strengths were creative or non-academic often
reacted negatively i.e. some showed symptoms of stress
and/or anxiety; some became ‘naughty’; and others just
‘switched off’. The competitiveness between pupils also
seemed to increase in Year 6. Although I only discussed
targets for improvement and methods of achieving better
results (was I guilty of ‘teaching to the test?) with
individual pupils they often compared each other’s progress
– obviously increasing the poor self-esteem of some pupils.
Memories of SATs themselves
Setting up the hall for the tests – desks
in rows facing the front, covering displays (just in case
they gave ‘clues’) and putting out acceptable equipment.
The arrival of the children who often looked scared and
uncertain (even after all the practicing!) I vividly
remember one pupil arriving with her own bucket – mum said
she was sick and could she be allowed to return home after
she’d done the tests? Of course we said that that would be
ok (and actually she didn’t need to use the bucket – perhaps
it had been nerves?) Then the receiving of the unopened
tests (almost ceremoniously) from the Headteacher, followed
by instructions/explanations/questions and then SILENCE
marred only by the occasional cough (sob!), a murmured
response to a ‘hand-up’ or a sound from another area of
school. Then the gathering of the papers, their immediate
collection by the Headteacher who whisked them off to await
collection and then finally … the hubbub as the children
reacted.
The aftermath
The arrival of the eagerly (?) awaited
results!!! The post-mortem. Where were we in the League
Tables? Were we high enough? Had we achieved enough level
4s and 5s? What was our value-added like? Had we done
enough to avoid drawing OFSTEDs attention? Then the relief
that it was all over – until next year!
Do I miss
teaching the Year 6 children?
Yes.
Do I miss SATs and the increased stress? Certainly not!
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