Parent petition supporting Primary SATs boycott

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/link{https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/parents-support-sats-boycott-kids-strike-3rd-may?source=facebook-share-button&time=1459365428/Y2 parent petition
Would you keep your child/children home from school for a day to protest about over-testing in the UK Primary system?

I disagree - it is always better to work together WITH a boycott.

It's too late for teachers' unions this year, but the NUT are balloting for next year, and hopefully other unions, such as the NAHT will follow suit. Remember that next year's tests will include the abomination of resits in December 2017 for the poor children who are deemed as not at age related expectations - as if getting to grips with simply being at secondary school won't be quite enough to cope with.

So if a lot of children boycott the test, and a lot of children didn't meet age expected standard, what will happen once they enter secondary? Is target will be lowered for end of year target and gcse? I wonder what are the consequences of these tests this year.

This group are proposing a boycott on Tuesday 3rd May anyway, which won't affect the tests - it's purely to make a very excellent point. Good on them!

A lot of secondary schools have faced the dilemma of no targets this very year, as a result of the third of schools who boycotted in 2010 (NAHT and NUT). No one died

I am happy to sign the petition but I will not be boycotting.

My reasoning: my children are not old enough (Year 1 and Reception) to make an informed decision about something that will affect them more for the day than me.

Thank you Feenie. Since my ds isn't affected this year, I am bit out of touch, but still worried about what's happening. Yes, agree on doing on the day which doesn't affect actual test, but showing their point, which clearly shows they are very thoughtful people.

As the mother of a Yr2 child, I have become increasingly concerned about the impact this standardised test has been having on her enjoyment of school & learning in the past few months. While the test is coming up in two weeks, her teacher has been preparing the class for months to a) learn how to take a standardised test and to b) grasp developmentally inappropriate abstract concepts in Maths like fractions & division and in Literacy nonfiction vs. fiction texts & identifying parts of sentences (pronouns, adverbs, etc). These 6&7 year olds are only just learning to read & write this year! There are children in other countries (many with better educational outcomes) that wouldn't even be starting formal learning at this age. But most importantly, I have discovered that my daughter has essentially skipped a year of learning! Not just mine, but everyone's child who attends a state-funded schools in the UK. The government's last changes to the National Curriculum in September 2015 pushed the learning objectives forward by a year, so that my daughter is not only expected to do what the Yr3 class was doing last year, but she's now being tested on it! No wonder she's complained about the amount of work they are doing in her class. I wonder how many parents know about that?

Teachers and schools cannot do much more than try to cope with the ridiculous workload this has created, as they are reluctant to bite the hand that feeds them funding by speaking out. And our children do not have a voice. So, it is up to parents & taxpayers to tell this government that these changes to push our children even harder at an even earlier age has gone too far. Their teachers could be quietly assessing their development while they learn, which is how it has been done in the past. The reason it is taking months to prepare our Yr2 children for this SAT test is because THEY ARE NOT DEVELOPMENTALLY READY yet. Forcing them to acquire these skills at an even earlier age is only going to tragically put many of them off learning, and make them feel like failures before they are even out of the KS1 starting gate.

The SAT boycott on May 3rd is one way that we can get attention through the press, which is starting to take notice across the country. Below are three great resources I've found about the SATs boycott, the truth behind the National Curriculum changes, and the importance of protecting our children's childhood.

Boycott: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/parents-support-sats-boycott-kids-strike-3rd-may
NC Impact on our children: michaelt1979.wordpress.com/2015/05/10/dear-parents/
Protecting our children in the Early Years (4-7 yrs): http://www.savechildhood.net

I have DC in Yr2.

As a principal I'm against testing at young age as I fundamentally do not think it is of any value or gives any kind of information that can't be had anyway. I come from a Northern European country with a great reputation for its education, where children start school later than in the UK and where tests like the SATS are unheard of at this age.

However, I fully trust "our" school and how they approach this. A school that focused on preparing Yr2 for SATS rather than teaching would not be a school I would send my DC too. In "our" school I see parents enormously stressed over SATS for KS1. Some have even gone to tutoring (for what really?). They are the ones stressing the children, not the school.

I do think that the general "obsession" with testing young children could benefit from being toned down, but I see that as quite separate from this.

I'm amazed how aware many kids seem. Ours had no idea they were being tested in year 2. The parents knew tests were happening that year, but didn't know the actual dates. School was really good at handling this, the kids did a few practice tests and had no idea the real thing was anything else than just another practice.

Same with DS paxillin. Apart from the weekly spelling tests they've done since Y1 he's not aware he's doing tests.

Mind you, I mentioned SATs to a friend whose children are in Y2 at another school and she replied 'what SATs?' Seems their school hasn't mentioned them to parents at all.

Can someone please show me how the introduction of targets and tests for primary school children has improved their education? Is there any evidence that testing is helping children learn or achieve more than their peers from other countries that do not use these tests?

Exactly Faraway!

I bet there will be ample evidence of anxiety related issues seen at the GP's surgeries though. The phrase only the toughest will survive springs to mind every time I read about SAT's.

I think testing itself isn't bad. They tell you how much children learned and made progress etc. But when it becomes that school need to teach for certain test for results, and children's future target is decided according to one test, it's totally wrong. Test is to measure children's understanding and knowledge, so teacher can help and children can strengthen weak points if needed. Tests help, but SATS doesn't improve children's education, IMO.
My native country has a national test in the last year of primary. But it's nothing like sats, and nobody really think about it. It just measures children's attainment for each year for statistics, that's all, I think. And result doesn't follow you to secondary.

Irvine The sad thing is that when the government first tried to introduce SATS, back in the 1980s, they wanted to do it that way - just collect the statistics from each school, with the individual child and parent never knowing what their result was. It was the teachers' unions who insisted that they wouldn't conduct the tests that way. I never really understood why.

Some of you with Y2 children may be very shocked to know that this year's tests are to be taken under strict exam conditions. Schools that fail to do this are at risk of being accused of maladministration. The days when children 'didn't even know they were doing the tests' are over. It is a complete farce - the levels are supposed to be based on teacher assessment anyway so why the need for such strict procedures? Even the timing aspect is completely muddled - it gives an approximate time but children who take longer than that time have to be named.

we have a meeting next week to discuss them.. i'm already one of 'those' parents and am seriously considering keeping DD home on the test days (yr2)

i dont agree with the SATS at all, and i was one of the first people to take them when they were introduced.

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/509074/KS1_TAG.pdf

it gives an approximate time but children who take longer than that time have to be named.

That bit isn't true, although there are approximate timings which most Y2 teachers think are wildly out of kilter.

Some of you with Y2 children may be very shocked to know that this year's tests are to be taken under strict exam conditions. Schools that fail to do this are at risk of being accused of maladministration. The days when children 'didn't even know they were doing the tests' are over.

DS's school has explained to us exactly how they will be carried out. They don't have to be as strict as you're making out.

There are exam papers, and they're timed but they don't have to do them all in one go. Teachers can pause the tests and even send the children out to play for a short break.

The children are not allowed to talk or look at each other's work but, unlike in Y6 where they have to cover all the wall displays, in Y2 they don't. Teachers aren't allowed to point anything out but many of the tools the children are used to using, number lines etc, will be visible to them.

Teachers can't give individual help but they can make general statements like 'Remember all your capital letters everyone!'

As I've said before, it is up to the schools, and parents, how they go about this. They can make it a lot more stressful, or much easier, for the children.

I really feel that it's the parents that are the worst "offenders" in all of this stressing each other, and what's worse - the children, up big time.

I do believe that a wider debate about the obsession with formal testing would be healthy. Formal testing is just not needed in order to form a good view of a child's abilities IMHO.

The test are NOT timed, but suggested times are given.

The children make not take breaks just anywhere in the middle of the tests, but the teacher can administer a section before a break and a different section afterwards, where tests have two sections.

Displays MUST be covered, and anyone leaving their children in sight of a number line would find themselves at risk of a maladministration accusation.

Children leaving the room to go to the toilet in the middle of a test must be accompanied.

Least said soonest mended for the kids. I agree parents often stress more than children about the tests, at least in year 2. Year 6 kids are more aware, but even for them the endless practice papers are possibly worse than sitting the tests.

I don't know what the tests do for a child's education. I believe GCSE results in Wales absolutely nosedived a few years after they abolished KS1 and 2 SATs though. Pupils in Wales now perform worse in reading and maths than all other parts of the UK. This is more about not holding schools to account and no ranking tables because there are no tests, not about individual pupils. No idea how else it can be done, but this field experiment seems to show no tests mean worse education fairly quickly.

Ha, I knew someone would be along to contradict what our school told us

I'm happy with the way the school are going about it. If they have misinterpreted the rules (which I find hard to believe) then that's their own lookout.

You could read the test administration guidance yourself in mrz's link - there's not really much to misinterpret in this bit though:

Any rooms where tests will take place should be prepared before the tests are
administered. You should:

*remove or cover any displays or materials that could help pupils

A numberline most definitely comes under that heading! Perhaps they need to refresh themselves with this year's guidance.