Tuesday, May 13, 2008

SATS - get a grip !

I've had enough of all this special intrest group whinging about testing in schools.

As a parent and a school governor I'm very pleased that their are objective tests carried out to monitor progress - indeed the job of governing bodies would be almost impossible to do properly without them.

As for kids getting too stressed I have the following to say:

    1) I went to a school from 12 onwards were full exams were sat every term. Not a problem - you get used to them.
    2) My daughter is sitting SATS this morning for KS1. The school try really hard - but they also care for such young kids by not telling them its happening weeks in advance - she was just wondering what had been laid out on all the desks as she walked into school this morning, I suspect by now she knows !
    3) The school - not the child- is being assessed. Your SATS results do not follow you around. There really is no need for kids to get stressed about it.
    4) Every one else in the real world gets measured on their performance - why shouldn't those who work in schools ?
    5) If they pass the tests then at least they have achieved some of the key objectives of primary school.

2 comments:

Letters From A Tory said...

It would be nice if the SATs did assess the school, but they don't. The tests are contrived rubbish which have little scientific value.

Let the teachers assess the progress of the children and scrap league tables for everyone's sake.

Man in a Shed said...

The problem is that you can't manage what you can't measure.

I don't see allowing teacher self assessment alone is sufficient or desirable ( since it will for some introduce enormous temptations to operate against the interests of their pupils ).

In my experience teacher assessment is relied upon also, but SATs offer ground proofing.

Removing league tables would require making test results secret. Are you really suggesting parents shouldn't know how their children are doing and how their school performs ? Or if you are suggesting that SATs don't actually provide this information then why not and why would teacher assessment differ ?