Linda Taaffe writes

Within a mere five weeks since the unanimous decision of the National Union of Teachers’ to boycott SATs, and with a whole year to go before the next batch of pupils sit these iniquitous tests in 2004, Charles Clarke has announced changes to the primary curriculum in a vain attempt to stem the tide of widespread opposition.

In a document called "Excellence and Enjoyment" Clarke has decreed that children WILL enjoy school – but - tests, targets and tables are here to stay!

He will make changes to next years’ tests for seven year olds, but not do away with tests. He will enable schools to set their own "robust" targets for 11 year olds (rather than the LEA) but retain the system of targets. He will make some alterations to the method of formulating league tables, but leave league tables in place. This exercise in squaring the circle cuts no ice with teachers.

As long as scores are generated, whether by class teachers, examiners or even electronic markers, there will still remain numbers to be crunched. What happened to using "words" to describe a child’s progress? Why does everything have to be converted into numbers? Teachers feel that this narrow test data is turned back on them and their schools in a whole range of negative ways from OFSTED inspections to performance related pay. It is not only the teachers, but also, the children who suffer. At the NUT Conference many delegates declared themselves no longer prepared to pass this pressure on to the children they teach. This review will not make that pressure go away.

Nothing less than the abolition of testing will do. However, a modest ripple of gratification has gone through NUT members because this seemingly all- powerful government has revealed just a little glimpse of the jitters, and it is all due to their collective decision. The NUT National Executive has welcomed Clarke’s acknowledgment that there is a problem, but has just reaffirmed its commitment to go ahead with the boycott. Plans are now being drawn up to get the campaign underway.

This campaign has the potential to create a huge problem for Blair. It has already drawn wide support from parents, support staff, academics, authors and even some of the media. Parents might be prepared to withdraw their children from these tests as part of a mass action if, teachers are threatened with legal action over a boycott. A community campaign linked up with a major trade union could see the dismantling of tests, which are the nuts and bolts of the whole edifice of targets and tables. A victory in education could have implications in turn for the rest of the public sector like hospitals, which are bedevilled by the same number crunching regimes. In fact the whole New Labour approach to the management of workers is under attack. That is the real reason Clarke has issued these changes. Teachers and parents should now press home their advantage.