Can parents boycott SATS by refusing to allow their children to participate in them?

[conistonoldwoman]

Just curious...don't think I'd attempt something so radical although I regard this appalling system with absolute loathing.

[shrug]

IMO a true comprehensive is one which takes both academic and less academic children and teaches them accordingly.

There are a mixture of all three in our county as the city and surrounding circa 20 miles of villages have true comps and the market towns have grammar/secondary mods. There is a small amount of overlap in catchments but very little choice to cross over cos of rural transport issues. And actually in a couple of our market towns, lots of parents select the sec mod/'comp' as the grammars are single sex and not liked by some parents. Those sec mods get circa 70% 5 a-cs. Sorry to be boring but sick of hearing my county referred to on these threads as grammar/sec mod only.

Are all the grammars in Kent mixed sex? I know lots of parents who wouldn't choose that for their son/daughter incl. me which explains why are sec mods are more like comps, iyswim.

why 'our'!

Well, in our neck of the woods, the high schools are most definitely jot comprehensives. 77% of the cohort go to them- but our nearest one, for example, expects about 10 or 12 high ability children in an intake of 168. The others are all at the grammar school.

You keep confusing me, seeker. High school means grammar round here!

You mean the non-grammars? Think it's fascinating that the impact in our area seems to make the sec mods more comp as many eschew single sex, thereby creating a virtuous circle of getting better results and more people choosing them.

I don' think they are called Secondary moderns anywhere, though, are they? For the purposes of this thread shall we call them non grammars? So we have grammars, non grammars and comprehensives?

:)

and the DCSF doesn't exist any more either

DCSF was scrapped when the present government took over in 2010

if a parent boycotts the SATs then fair play. We withdrew our son several years ago. It made not a jot of difference to his educational progress. It did save him needless anxiety whilst being taught to pass a test.

We teachers need to resist these punitive methods of testing which are inflicted upon the children we teach. Someone said in an earlier post that the SATs are for the purpose of grading schools in leagues.

How about taking on this govt by boycotting the SATs. Will they fine everyone. Of course not.

Assessment is a central tool of pedagogy. It is not an instrument of punishment, merely a measurement of progress. Teachers assess continuously in the classroom. A SAT merely puts an arbitrary template (standard) over a child's educational development and defines failure or success based on whether there is an exact fit. This is dangerous nonsense which defies any understanding of the development of the child. It is an uneven process which cannot be measured by such arbitrary measures, which when imposed can cause severe psychological damage by determining 'success' and 'failure' by government diktat.

Children develop at a different speeds. What's the obsession with 'accelerated' learning and regular testing? Such methods can have a debilitating effect on a child's progress. You can weigh the baby as many times as you like, it will only grow via nurture not weighing.nNurturing the students educationally is how they develop.

We would remove our child from SATs now if he was still at school.

You know that bit where it is 'zombie thread alert'?

Did you not notice?

In our area secondary moderns are called 'high school in a grammar school area'. I don't understand how mrz can say they don't exist, surely s/he realises that 'comprehensive' is what it literally means ie the full ability range

In your area they have high schools and you call them secondary moderns (perhaps because that's what they were when you went to school?)

They don't call them 'high schools' they call them 'high schools within a grammar school area'
How would you define a secondary modern Mrz?