NUT: Children left in tears and disengaged as literacy and numeracy tests are introduced
NUT Cymru says it has received alarming reports regarding the impact of the introduction of literacy and numeracy tests for all pupils from Year 2 – Year 9. Examples of students crying, reacting angrily and even threatening to no longer attend classes have been rife, especially amongst younger children.
NUT Cymru Secretary, David Evans, said:
“The fact that very young children have been reduced to tears is abhorrent to the teaching profession and distressing to teachers who are being placed in a very difficult position of having to force the tests on them. For those in the secondary sector, the impact has been somewhat less evident. The tests are still having a major impact on teachers in terms of dramatically increasing their workloads and putting major pressure on them and pupils. However, at the primary level these tests are a disaster.
“Seeing young pupils crying and being unable to support them under the guidance of the tests is a bizarre and unfair sight for teachers in a Welsh classroom. Sadly, it appears that the tests have been designed by people who have little comprehension of what it is to teach in a school environment. To say the system will be counterproductive to raising standards is an understatement.”
Jennie Williams, a primary school teacher from Rhondda Cynon Taf, said:
“Children as young as six are being forced to sit down in a totally alien environment for rigid and structured testing that they are not used to. The tests are totally undermining to the ethos of the Foundation Phase and frankly they put that policy at risk of failing. The reaction has been as destructive as many teachers have feared. It can be very difficult to engage some pupils and the stress of these tests are causing some children to threaten to stay away from school.”
ENDS
Contact: Owen Hathway, NUT Cymru, Ty Sinnott, 18 Neptune Court, Vanguard Way, Cardiff CF24 5PJ. Tel: 029 20491818. Mob: 07921 146 442 e-mail: cymru.wales@nut.org.uk
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