Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union in the UK, has written this morning to the Secretary of State calling on her to immediately end the uncertainty being faced by primary schools as a result of the Key Stage 2 SATs test, scheduled for today, being compromised.
Chris Keates said:
“In the last few weeks already overburdened primary school teachers and school leaders have faced even more pressure and stress as a result of the failure of Government to manage the Key Stage 1 tests appropriately, reckless announcements on forced academisation, which caused widespread panic and deep concern across the system and now the further problems with the Key Stage 2 SATs.
“The Government must makes clear immediately the actions it intends to take with regard to this latest development.
“Given the high stakes nature of the testing for teachers and school leaders , if the integrity of the tests cannot be guaranteed then it is absolutely clear that they cannot be used to judge the performance of schools.
“The time has now come for the Government to commit to conducting an open review of all of the issues surrounding this year’s Key Stage 1 and 2 tests and assessment arrangements, including the content.
“The fact that Government can so easily abandon these tests, as was demonstrated by the decision made in the last few weeks by Minister Nick Gibb in relation to the Key Stage 1 tests, shows they are nothing to do with pupil progress but are everything to do with ranking schools.
“This approach is unsustainable and educationally flawed.”
Contact:
Ben Padley,
Press and Media Officer,
NASUWT
0121 457 6269/07785 463 119
ben.padley@mail.nasuwt.org.uk
-01.png){kind=spacer}