Forward Back

Posted by: ' Lilyofthefield ' on 09-02-03 20:17
I have no objection to the principle of assessing pupils' progress via nationally standardised testing.

It's what they do with the results that bothers me, namely:

1. Setting a target that takes no account of the pupils' background etc and ascribing poor results to poor teaching.
2. Setting up a league table to put schools in unfair competeition with each other.
3. Using results for performance related pay.
4. Narrowing the curriculum so that years 6 and 9 waste most of an academic year being coached in passing SATs tests that are worthless to them.
3 | Posted by: ' markuss ' on 09-02-03 23:08
I know it's only a name and a test by any other.......BUT if teachers are going to make a big fuss against the tests, they should sound as though they know what they're talking about.

"SATs" ended in 1992 and were replaced by national test papers - a very different kind of assessment altogether. It's now a rather ignorant though popular misnomer through media influence. (They've even given out wild guesses as to what the letters stand for - and some teachers have been taken in!)
4 | Posted by: ' markuss ' on 09-02-03 23:15
I'm just thinking that you're going to look a bit silly with a "sats must go" campaign when government can say truthfully, "We got rid of them eleven years ago So there!" (Except it wasn't this government.)

Kenneth Baker not only took away teachers' "Occasional Days" holidays, he also took away the "SATs".
5 | Posted by: ' Jamie S. ' on 09-02-03 23:18
"SATs,SATs,SATs,SATs,SATs,SATs,SATs,SATs..."
6 | Posted by: ' Otto Sump ' on 10-02-03 13:38
1) Students suffer exam burnout due to excessive testing in this country.

2) Teacher assessment is as accurate a predictor of future performance as testing.

3) Not everywhere in the UK has to do Key Stage 3 tests. If it's "essential" for some to do them, why not all?

4) Teaching to the tests curtails new learning, particularly in aggresively competitive schools at Key Stage 2.

5) Do all secondaries get the results of the Key Stage 2 tests and do they use them to inform setting, support, or schemes of work? (No, they don't. So why bother).

6) Tests are a stick to beat teachers with; a method for the govt to preen over meeting targets or lay blame elsewhere if targets are not met.

7) The spurious idea that League tables enable parents to choose should be shot down immediately. The good schools cherry-pick the students, not vice versa.

Will that do for now, user1951?
7 | Posted by: ' Yuri ' on 10-02-03 16:10
SATs are fun! My class really look forward to them and they certainly motivate me to do my best all year round. How else could we measure teaching performance, OOPS, childrens' achievement without them?

There's nothing like the thrill of getting a Level 2 when your mates all have 3s and 4s. And don't forget that post-SATs party with streaming/ streamers to look forward to afterwards. Get rid of SATs? Life just wouldn't be the same!

Seriously though, I agree in principle, but what can we offer constructively as an alternative? If we don't formulate a sound option the argument will be "But there's no better system to replace them."
8 | Posted by: ' Cassandra ' on 10-02-03 19:15

Unless, Yuri, it is finally accepted that teachers are capable of honestly assessing pupil performance. Far better to live with a few inaccuracies in teacher assessment than to perpetuate the criminal waste of time taken in preparing Years 6 and 9.
9 | Posted by: ' robsteadman ' on 10-02-03 20:07

As usual the NUT, as well as the other teaching unions, fail to miss the point:

WE need pupil assessment as much as the pupils do.

Without proper assessment, at a national and easily comparible level, we are unaccountable. If we are unaccountable teaching becomes less than a profession - it places us on a level with... well, I'm not sure what!

SATs must stay - teachers must learn to teach and not smply teach for SATs and, if things need altering, let those who make decisions know what alternatives.

Stop crying to each other and try to do the job properly, effectively and for the good of the pupils - not merely to keep teachers in employment and loud mouthed union officials in jobs.
10 | Posted by: ' markuss ' on 10-02-03 20:11

Is your school honest about the tests?

1 Does it use the wrong name for them? (See above.)

2 Does it make it clear they're just glorified class tests? (Or does it pretend they're public examinations with the children doing them in long rows and columns instead of in their normal classroom with their normal teacher - as they're meant to happen.)

3 Does it hold "Mock Tests"? Funny this! Years ago teachers boycotted the first tests because of the marking workload. Now some of them do pretend tests and mark the things in their own time for no pay.

4 Does it ape the media by using the ridiculous metaphor "league" tables.

5 Does it make it clear to parents and children that teachers' assessments are legally 50% of the end of Key Stage Assessment? (And probably more valid - e.g. in English the tests don't attempt to even sample one third of the curriculum - Speaking and Listening.)

6 Does it insist, therefore that the teachers' assessments are not contaminated by the test scores? (Some schools, sensibly, insist on having TAs finalised before test scores come out.

7 When it reports to parents, which does it put first - TA or test result?

8 Is anyone in your school allowed to imply to children that teachers know so little about their ability that they will only know which class they should be in the following year when the test marks are known? In fact is anyone allowed to suggest that a test level will make any difference whatsoever to a child's future?

We can't really blame Government, DfEE, media for test mania if we are allowing our schools to collude in the nonsense. I think teachers are as guilty as anyone of burbling about "SATs" ("Mock SATs" even, would you believe?), "League tables", "Results" etc. Next thing you know, some schools will be issuing prizes and certificates for them!

To go to the Socialist Party Teachers webpage click here