To think we need to get a grip about SATs and stop the drama

[PeaceLoveGonk]

DD(11) has to work very hard just to be average academically. None of this SPAG bollocks comes naturally but she just bloody well gets on with it.

She came out of school yesterday, said test was hard, she didn't finish it but did her best. We then went for ice cream and when we got home she went on the iPad.

No one in her class had hysterics, went into meltdown, cried or did anything other than try their best.

I've read a thread on TES forum describing the test as 'brutal' and there is much talk about ruining our children's lives. I think it's just 4 tense days before they start the wind down to summer.

We're not doing our kids any favours with all this anger, breast beating and angst. They're not working in clothing factories in India, trying to make a living from a rubbish dump or facing death on a dinghy trying to cross the sea to escape persecution. It's 4 days of tests!

Resilience comes over time, and it is individual.

Exactly. No two DC are the same.

Over resilience isn't always a good thing either.

I have another child and a close family member in the class/school but thanks for not believing me.

They've done practice tests but the language used and the atmosphere and attitude has been very relaxed and low key.

My DS is 11. He is taking his SATs this week. He has an ASC. I used to be teacher.
Since he started Year 5 he has been worried about SATs. This started because he was in a mixed Y5/6 class last year and obviously SATs were mentioned. he told us how worried he was and we explained to him that SATs didn't matter one jot, that they had no bearing on his future, that they were a test of the school and not the child. But he doesn't believe me.
Since starting in Y6 he has had to cope with a curriculum that was only finalised in April. Since going back to school in April he has done nothing except English, Maths and PE. The SATs this year are nothing like previous years. The content is like nothing I have ever had to teach.

My son had an epic meltdown two wekks ago which involved self harming. We banned ALL revision at home and we do not mention the SATs unless he does. He si not sleeping properly and looks pale and tired and defeated.
I have no idea how he found the test yesterday. I do know he will find today's test challenging.
There is no drama in this house. These tests and the culture of everything being about the results is wrong. My son's teacher is perfectly capable of seeing what he knows without a test. She can tell me what he is good at and what he needs to work on without the need for a test.

"Resilience is NOT taught by throwing children - or anyone - in at the deep end and hoping they can swim. It does not make them any better at swimming. Indeed, it makes them (properly quite rightly) shit scared of swimming."

I don't know where you have the idea that these tests are designed to make children more resilient?

What I have said many times now is that they are unintentionally revealing low levels of resilience in some children. And so, it is a good opportunity to see that in all it's glory and do something about it, if you so choose.

Equally, you can choose to blame the school and the government and the teachers and let them be the downfall of your children's emotional health.

They've done practice tests but the language used and the atmosphere and attitude has been very relaxed and low key

That's what I wanted my children's school to be like and that's what I was like myself over the 11+. Unfortunately some schools just can't seem to do this, I don't know why.

I'm not sure, when I was at all in the 90s, we did SATS in year 2, and year 6. I don't remember any problem, it was all quite exciting.

Unless things have changed massively I'm not sure what all the fuss is about.

Unless things have changed massively I'm not sure what all the fuss is about.

They have changed beyond recognition as posters have repeatedly said

Comparing when you did themy to now is like comparing chalk and cheese.

I thrived in exam situations. I still don't want it for my [emotionally very healthy] 6/ 7 yo.

What I have said many times now is that they are unintentionally revealing low levels of resilience in some children

What others have also said that their DC are very resilient yet have found SATS hard.

Children aren't carbon copies of each other.

I think a great deal of what is on these tests is frankly, ridiculous (SPAG) and unhelpful.

However, the fact that children are getting worked up about them has been leaped upon in triumph by those critical of the government, with (false) claims of a mental health crisis amongst the young stemming as a direct result of these tests.

I have a huge problem with this for a number of reasons.

Mental health has contributory factors, certainly, but these are as diverse and as far ranging as causes of physical health (cancer being the obvious one - yes, there are things like smoking with a clear link but other things like red meat, wine and eggs are lauded one day and vilified the next.) As such, most people try to be sensible, avoid the obvious things but enjoy their lives in moderation. So it should be with mental health: obvious factors leading to extreme stress and depression need to be avoided, but that does not equate to avoiding everything that may cause stress or depression.

It's also undermining, and hugely insulting, to claim mental health problems - serious ones - are caused by a test at eleven, no matter how seriously children take it. Personality disorders, schizophrenia and their elk are not 'caused' by anything, they simply are. By claiming that mental health and a test are connected, we are doing mental health a huge disservice. We are implying those suffering could avoid it. We are suggesting that, in short, it is less serious than physical health: a child who collapsed during a P.E. class would warrant an immediate investigation into their general physical health; a child who collapses during the SATs is used as a political tool. Not on.

Mental health treatment in this country is, famously, crap, and I am very concerned at this current trend dressed in the guise as 'concern' for young people's mental health which is actually a money earner and taking advantage of people's very real concerns about their children.

What I have said many times now is that they are unintentionally revealing low levels of resilience in some children

You know what, you are talking utter rubbish.

I am a really good employee, work very hard, quite resilient, excellent performer. I was in a unit where there was a huge amount of measuring, lecturing, hectoring, told the unit was failing, we all had to do better etc. Unsurprisingly the culture of constant measurement just created more stress and lots of people (not myself) were off sick. Now I work somewhere where there is a reasonable and sensible performance measurement, we all feel fine, achieve fine and there is much less stress. We are far more successful as well (according to external national indicators).

Resilience is context dependent, individually varies and isn't just determined by parental input.

What on earth does it serve to single out children who are struggling and mark them aged 11 with a nice learning experience about how they aren't even as resilient as someone else as well as worry about academic performance?

If you think constant measurement is a way to resilience, you are utterly wrong.

I see the end product of this exam oriented sausage factory system with my university students all the time: a lack of interest in learning for knowledge, only learning to pass exams, inability to think creatively if not taught information, high levels of mental ill-health and anxiety, performance anxiety, the feeling life is all about exams and superficial success. How the students who aren't even at uni (and feel a failure due to this) feel, I have no idea, but the high levels of depression/anxiety in our populations might give us some clues to whether it's working well.

It's pointless, children haven't got cleverer for all this! Or resilient. Fail on both counts.

And so, it is a good opportunity to see that in all it's glory and do something about it, if you so choose

Do you really think that parents aren't? Do you really think that I haven't tried every trick in the book to help DD? It's all well and good posting a few links, but tell me, please, in your own words EXACTLY what you think you have done differently or better to ensure that your child hasn't reacted like mine did?

Why do posters get so angry when other posters say their children aren't bothered by the SATS?

And no one has commented on the fact that independently educated children have exams once or twice a year but cope with the stress very well.

I sent Ds1 (15) into school this morning for a GCSE exam. I sent Dd into school where she will be sitting her SATS.
I know that ds1 has prepped well and is relaxed about an important day.
I worried more about Dd facing a test which will mean very little after Christmas. Dh told her if she answered every question incorrectly today then it is still ok.

I was expecting to be worrying more for ds1.

Why do posters get so angry when other posters say their children aren't bothered by the SATS?

Who has done that napnah?

kate that's an interesting perspective. I certainly think the mental health of my students is poorer than I remember at uni, but perhaps it is not comparing like with like. Our mental health services (counselling) on campus and elsewhere are completely overwhelmed, and satisfaction with work also low among lecturers (or lower than it used to be).

I do think the bureaucratic culture of measure, measure, measure followed by ever increasing and often unachievaable targets has contributed to this, but not just in schools or SATS- but across pretty much all the professions, where there are epic levels of workplace stress/people leaving (e.g. medicine).

Erm most posts here are blaming other posters for lack of empathy over the sats.

It's desperately unfashionable to say you or your child aren't bothered

Why do posters get so angry when other posters say their children aren't bothered by the SATS?

I think they are bothered by the implication (that comes through strongly in some posts) that if children are stressed it is their, or their parents', fault.

And no one has commented on the fact that independently educated children have exams once or twice a year but cope with the stress very well.

These are low stakes tests for which the children have been well prepared over their whole education - not one off, high (at least to the teachers and schools involved) stakes tests for which preparation has been limited.

We're talking more to givepeas who's being condescending.

Why do posters get so angry when other posters say their children aren't bothered by the SATS?

There are ways and means of saying things.

It's good obviously if your DC aren't finding them hard.

What isn't good is saying to posters that your DC are finding them hard or are worrued about them because your DC lack x y or z whereas mine are not and preening your feathers as perfect parents

Or that your DC are struggling down to your parenting.

It would appear that today's SPaG test has been better.

I may be one of the posters who have come across angry. I have been on both sides - a ds who sailed through, he was in an amazing school, and a daughter who has a teacher and a headteacher who puts massive pressure on the students. If I had only had the experience of ds1 then I might well agree with many of you. But dd's school have a different mentality. They are putting pressure on the children, they are talking about disappointment, they are saying SATs are everything. Granted not all schools are like this (as with ds1 school, and from what I have heard ds2 school) but some schools are being like this.

No one has 'got angry' with another poster for simply saying their child wasn't bothered by SATS. Not a single person.

Plenty of people are annoyed with other posters that have quantified their 'not bothered" with - so no-one else should be, or there must be something wrong with their kid, or it's the parents fault the child is anxious...

And yes, show a little empathy instead of sneering at parents who are concerned about their children. I am honestly very, very pleased for any child that hasn't been bothered by them - but that doesn't stop me wishing that my child was one of them. If DD wasn't bothered I'd be concerned for my friends whose children were, and relieved for my own. Not sneering at them or blaming them for it.

*worried

I agree with you op Certainly no drama at all here.
No revision, no stress just a few tests this week to pad out a rather dull rainy day.
My DS & his friends, actually the whole class could not give a monkeys about the tests. I have no idea what the teacher thinks, she has not made a big deal of it.
DS is quite sharp, he thought yesterday's test was no big deal & said he finished it with lots of time to spare.
Does it really matter if there are tests or not at 11. It will not put a dampener on future careers, if a child messes a test up at this age so be it, It's not a problem . We all pass stuff we all fail stuff.
we need to worry about the more important things in life.