Yr 6 SATS Support the Teachers?

noblegiraffe - ...the PREVENT strategy and it was entirely about its implementation in education .... it seems entirely relevant that the NUT are concerned about this.

PrettyBrightFireflies I don't disagree

Erm, I think your previous post suggest you do disagree, actually:

PrettyBrightFireflies What qualifies NUT members to vote on ... national security?

PrettyBrightFireflies seriously, your issue with the NUT is that they are complaining about too many problems related to the education system in this country. Of course you express no anger at the people who have caused those problems. Bit odd really.

Perhaps you can explain which of the points in that document you think should be shelved and why. Granted you have identified two which you think are completely irrelevant to the NUT, so out of the others, which one(s) should they be championing through?

it seems entirely relevant that the NUT are concerned about this.

I don't disagree. But it does somewhat detract from the other messages that the NUT, and the education profession as a whole, are trying to get across to the wider public.

If the foundation of the Education system is being threatened, then surely all efforts should be put into defending it?
If resources are expended on fighting a wide range of other issues as well, it undermines the message that there is a crisis of unprecedented proportions.

My yr 6 ds1 knows that SATS are no big deal for us. His school have spent almost all of yr 6 coaching then for SATS and are doing yoga and light breakfast before the exams. Why? Children will only be stressed by them if they are told it is a big deal. SATS should test student progress and are a measure of teaching quality. Most secondary schools ime take the results with a large pinch of salt and do their own tests shortly after entry anyway.

I just read the NUT document linked by a pp to see what it had to say about the PREVENT strategy and it was entirely about its implementation in education.

All teachers in schools have recently or will shortly be receiving PREVENT training so it seems entirely relevant that the NUT are concerned about this.

PrettyBrightFireflies What they choose to speak out about will impact on public opinion.

As demonstrated recently:

twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=nicky%20morgan%20newsnight

Oh! that extra y? that old thing? I had to add it when I re-registered with a new email and password last year after Jeffrey-Gate. I couldn't keep my previous bibbitybobbityhat. Hope that explains.

so you think the NUT should only be able to speak out against Education Policies, rather than policies that affect education.

I think they can speak out about whatever their membership directs them to.

What they choose to speak out about will impact on public opinion.

bibbitybobbityyhat, it doesn't take an English teacher to know that bobbity is spelt with one y. Its actually hard to think of a name on mumsnet that isn't taken. I chose my name because I placed a bet on him becoming leader of his party, wasn't expecting it to be free but it was and he did. Like you said, "it was quite important to keep the same name on Mumsnet".

IME SATs are totally useless. The whole of year 6 is wasted, all the children do is learn to pass exams ALL BLOODY YEAR.

^^ this. Dd is in year 7. Her year 6 was a complete waste of time - stressful being pushed to achieve level 6s, extra maths classes including during the Easter holidays! (Which she didn't attend) - they had 5 English and 5 maths lessons per week. Plus she was bored having to go over and over basic grammar all the time - revising commas and so on. She's very creative - wrote her first book aged 10, has always been very conscientious and very keen to please at school, but she hated year 6. It actively turned her off education. So so sad at this age.

Now she is at grammar and she only has 3 x English and 3 x maths per week. Her learning is much broader and she does many more subjects. She is loving learning again.

DS is in year 4 and is a v different child to dd. He will hate year 6 even more than dd if the current focus on grammar and teaching to the test continues. I despair, I really do.

PrettyBrightFireflies Interesting, so you think the NUT should only be able to speak out against Education Policies, rather than policies that affect education.

Oh I'm old school Jeremy and first heard Queen Bitch many decades ago pre-internet. I never had the desire to look up the lyrics of Hunky Dory because I felt I knew them all by heart. It wasn't until quite some time after I'd chosen my username that I realised I'd misspelled, but decided to leave it be as at that time I felt it was quite important to keep the same name on Mumsnet rather than nc all the time.

Still, at least you knew what I was getting at with my username, whereas I can't imagine what you're trying to do with yours.

Oops lots of typos. Just as well I don't have to sit the yr6 SATs tests.

trying the PREVENT Strategy is overseen by the Home Office with the intention of maintaining national security.

As part of that, there are elements that impact on the Education sector, which, alongside the finance and some other professions, are expected to implement specific aspects of it - but it is not an Education policy any more than it is an economic policy; the intended outcomes relate to National Security.

PrettyBrightFireflies If the NUT fight every policy the government propose I would expect any union I was a member of to fight any policy that had a detremental affect on me as a professional. I thought that was the whole point of unions.

Do note that the the document you have linked to does give very clear points outlining their position. Shame the goverment doesn't do the same with regards to the many changes they make to the education system.

I'm not entirely sure why you have taken such offence to the docuiment tbh.

PrettyBrightFireflies somewhat confused as to why you think The PREVENT strategy motion is not relevent to education.

voddie I really hope not. We shall see over the next term I guess ...

I don't know what she will be taught.
Hopefully they will continue to keep the Maths and English ticking over, possibly continuing to extend knowledge a bit too. My DD can't 'afford' to not do maths from mid-May to September.

Usually the other curriculum subjects, which tend to take a bit of a back seat in the first half of the summer term, will be back loaded onto the second half. So I would, for example, hope for more science.

I know the system isn't perfect. I also prefer the old tests to the new tests. But for my DC at least a 'consolidation' year where they don't try to learn loads of new stuff is in my opinion a Good Thing. I honestly believe that having the SATs forces the consolidation. It stops people conning themselves that children like mine have learnt stuff that in actual fact they covered but haven't retained.

Which point addresses National Security as I can't find it.
The PREVENT strategy motion.

Amazed that you don't think racism is relevant to education. Really?
Racism is. Immigration isn't. The number of refugees being offered asylum isn't.

Of course, they all indirectly have an impact on the way in which teachers do their job, but so does every policy the Government proposes. Health policy, justice policy, finance policy. Does the NUT want to influence those, too?

If the NUT intends it's executive to fight on all battle fronts, then it's resources are going to be stretched too thin to make an impact on the issues that directly relate to education.

If the NUT fight every policy the government propose, then their credibility on matters of education will be weakened.

Ahh ok I suppose we have had different experiences Teen I found that there was a slow burn in the first term towards the tests, all guns blazing the second term and non stop revision for a few weeks after Easter until the SATs. Then 7 weeks of almost no academic learning. But I do understand that different schools do things differently

TeenAndTween Do the SATs test cover everything up to the end of year 6? If so what will your DC be taught after the test?

I may not like the changes. I may not agree with the new emphasis on grammar. I am also concerned with demoralising less able children like mine. But I don't believe that y6 is being spent 'teaching to the test'.

Also, I believe that without the SATs, DD wouldn't be getting the consolidation in maths and spelling she is getting. This is the same benefit that DD1 gained 6 years ago.

Shipwrecked They have been studying new NC since start y5.

TeenAndTween (That said I would prefer that less time was going on grammar, and that the scoring for the tests hadn't changed. I would also prefer that as a L3 child she wasn't being faced with L6 questions.)

This is my point exactly all those things you said that she is doing should be done within lessons anyway without the added pressure of a silly test that includes questions that most are set to fail. Does nothing for the individual except maybe demoralise them

PrettyBrightFireflies I've had a quick scan through the document you have linked to. Which point addresses National Security as I can't find it.

Amazed that you don't think racism is relevant to education. Really?