so why have they abolished year 9 SATS.....

[seeker]

...when as far as I know nobody is complaining about them - it's the year 2 ones they ought to have abolished!

they have? whoooooooooooooooooooooooo. I was going to keep ds2 home that wekk.

I'm going to be cynical and say it's because there wasn't enough progress between KS2 and KS3. Get rid of SATS and it won't be as obvious.

They're being replaced with APP - sort of continuous assessment to make sure the kids can do things consistently and independently and not just for a test on a given day. I guess it will make things even better for the girls! (though I was always better at exams than coursework and I can read maps!).

I have no objection at all to 13/14 year olds sitting down to do a test. Their GCSE's are around the corner and it is not a bad thing to practice exam technique. When I was at secondary school we had sit internal tests in full exam conditions from age 11 and it prepared us well for public exams.

However, the benefit of learning exam technique at age 6 or 7 is non-existent. Around here, the primary schools are all very good, but it is at secondary level where the standards start to drop.

I don't object to the tests but I do object to teaching to the test and the narrowing of the curriculum as a consequence.

I guess it's so that the poor kids have one year where they don't have to do bloody exams!

Let's hope it's the Yr 2 ones next!

In English yr9 SATs often throw up some very odd results - it's not clear whether that's because of a "bad day", or a "good day", or inconsistent marking, or obscure questions/texts. Because the results arrive so late (especially this year) the results cannot be used for setting anyway. In addition many teachers feel they are a diversion from the course they want to teach to prepare students for 'the big bad world' and for GCSE. If you are prepared to sacrifice large % of your teaching time in yr9 you can 'teach to the test' simply in order to improve your school statistics. They are also hideously expensive to run.

Most schools now are very good at tracking pupils' progress in all subjects and effective assessment.

I cannot see any avantages to yr9 SATs, and am delighted they have been scrapped.

Money?

Or have they realised that while time is being wasted practising for these exams the kids are not learning anything...or maybe they have finally recognised that private school practice of no SATS may have something to teach the government (not that they would admit it!!)

Hooray!!!!

My dh (head of English faculty) is over the moon - no more teaching to a stupid test that has had some of the worst marking I have ever seen.