sats

[kags]

My son has just done his KS2 SATs and I was a reader for a KS2 child at my daughter's school, so I feel like I have been through the tests myself!
I wondered what people think of testing all 11 and 14 year olds - are the children too young, are the results meaningful, are school too focussed on getting kids through the SATs at the expense of a more rounded education, are they a good way of monitoring the performance of a school??

[andy-hughes]

There is only one place for a target - it's on a rifle range!

The notion of SATS is to measure the performance of one school against another.

Given that the variables between abilities and social backgrounds and sheer individualism in children means that the results are about as relavent as counting stars in the sky - what exactly are you supposed to do with this information?

Education has been a political football since the Tories because the notion of 'parent power' sounds good - but what does it really mean? The idea of 'choice' is a nonsense because all the 'good' schools are over-subscribed, and the 'less good' schools are what is left for everyone else.

Assuming you can seriously use the data to make an informed choice - how do you get your child into the school of your choice.

Trust me - as the husband of an ex-Head Teacher - now Schools Inspector - who assesses schools every week, I can assure you that SATS are an expensive waste of time, and an unecessary presssure on children and parents.

If your child is happy at school, and performing to the best of his ability, who cares how he measures up against children five hundred miles away?

Let him be happy, and develop at his own pace, and don't worry about SATS, they are a waste of mental effort.

testing should be banned, and money put into proper training and resources for schools - leave the 'targets' to the sharp-shooters!

[teddybon]

I love the previous reply and couldn't agree more. Your child is an individual and should be respected as such. He is not a level whatever! Do you hate standard statement reports too, the ones where teachers can pick and mix?

[Gef]

Well said Andy.

[kags]

I agree with most of what Andy says (by the way, hello Andy, long time no speak!). Yesterday in the Maths test, the girl I was reading for completely went to pieces, I thought she was going to have a panic attack but I managed to calm her down. I couldn't help wonder what they hell we are doing to our kids! No matter how many times you tell children that it is the school being tested, not them, they still pick up on the stress in the air at school and become anxious. The arguements for an against exams will always be around, but whatever you think of tests in general, using them on year 6 children, some still 10 years old, cannot be right.
And many parents are not in a position to properly interpret the results anyway, (how can you compare my daughter's inner city school in a deprived area with 40% of children having a first language other than English, with a village school?).
Having said all that, I am not against schools having their performance measured in some way in between OFSTED inspections. But let's find a way that doesn't have all our 10/11 year olds brainwashed for 9 months into passing meaningless tests.

[kags]

teddybon - yes, as a parent it is obvious and irritating when the teacher had used a standard statement in the report, but I also have sympathy for the teachers who are forced to produce such lenghty reports. I am sure the teachers would prefer to concentrate on quality rather than quantity if they were allowed to do so.

[teddybon]

I used to take great pride in my hand written reports it was part of my job and a personal response to a child's effort during the year. In the good old days we could be fair and honest (But kind). Today's statements are bland to the point of not relating to any child.

[sunflower23]

I completely agree with the comments that have been made. I am currently teaching in Wales where SATs testing has now been made non-compulsory.

However, this time last year I witnessed testing taking place in one particular school at the end of year 2. The Headteacher had decided that the school would opt out of the SATs (approx three days of testing) and exchange for three weeks of classroom assessments that took place under test conditions.

To be honest I really didn't see the point in this, and if the children were being put through tests they had might as well have sat the SATs papers.

I feel that there are plenty of other ways of assessing a child's capabilities and in a good classroom with a good classroom practitioner this should be happening on a daily basis. Pupils do not need testing!!

[babybombo]

Just sat my standard grades this year, Scottish exams. Iam 16 although some people in my year group are fifteen.
My exams were all through the month of may this year, but from december last year up untill a month ago I was seeing a psychiatrist for depression and stress issues.
This was brought on by stress from the exams and the pressure teachers were putting on me to do well.
My friend also had to go through the same experience as me.
If I can't deal with the stress of exams at 16 I dread to think what I'd have been like at the age of 11 !!