STOP THE TESTING TREADMILL

Sheila Caffrey (Bristol NUT)
SATS. The dreaded word that makes children and teachers alike shudder with horror. But it makes MPs and the media smile with joy as it gives them yet another stick to beat struggling schools with!
A needless stick, most of Britain would argue, with England being the only country to have school performance tables for 11, 14 and 16 year olds and National Curriculum tests which are imposed on all children.
In Scotland, school performance tables similar to those in England have never been published and there are no tests similar to those in England. Wales got rid of school league tables and the national tests, and instead uses teacher assessments: a much truer reflection of a child’s level that can actually then influence future teaching.
But “league tables give parents choice”, we hear the government chime, and whilst of course some can choose where to send their children to school, most parents have to send their children to their local school.
No doubt it will be a school where the whole staff are working at least 50 hour weeks to try and ensure the children benefit as much as possible, but it doesn’t detract from the fact the school may be under-resourced or in a ‘deprived’ area.
A 2006 analysis of nearly a million individual pupils' results by London University academics concluded: "For schools the message is clear. Selecting children who are in high-status neighbourhoods is one of the most effective ways of retaining a high position in the league table".
And of course this is true. Whilst as teachers we feel the pressure endlessly weighing us down, you cannot escape the fact that a child’s relative affluence can offer countless advantages, such as a good diet, decent housing, access to books and the internet, time to read and play together and much more besides. These are advantages that most working-class children will never access, at home or in school.
Whilst learning through play is being introduced at the lower end of primary schools and a creative curriculum is being grasped by many, these things are meant to be dropped in Year 2 and 6, as children are to just focus on Literacy and Maths, ignoring any of the other subjects that will actually teach our children to be active rounded-out citizens in society.
As well-known children's author, Philip Pullman, commented: the government's National Literacy Strategy document has "71 different verbs under the heading of 'reading' ... reinforce, predict, check, discuss.... The word enjoy didn't appear once".
UNICEFs findings that British children are some of the unhappiest in the world does not come as a great surprise, when a child’s education appears to be a race, always pushing to the next exam. This has an extremely negative impact on a child’s academic life as well as social and emotional well-being. Not exactly the model that ‘Every Child Matters’ suggests!
The NUT should again step up their campaign against SATs and league tables, supporting both teachers and children to get the most out of education.
It would have an immediate direct affect on stress and workload, two of the main reasons so many teachers leave teaching. It would also improve children’s lives and help guarantee they receive the true benefit a decent education system can provide.