Parents support teachers - Boycott Sats - Kids' Strike May 3rd

[SuzieAllkins]

I am hoping that parents have heard of the Kids' Strike on May 3rd which has been set up by an anonymous group of parents who say 'Enough is enough'?' Their campaign supports schools in trying to reach the Government with the message that we need to stop national testing and let teachers teach in the way that they know is best. As a former primary school teacher (who used to administer Year 6 SATs) and a parent of two young children I shall be fully supporting this campaign on 3rd May by taking my school aged child out of school for a fun day of learning. I do not want my children to become stressed and develop a negative attitude to learning. Although the school my eldest attends is wonderful in developing the 'whole child', the pressure is on the teachers to 'perform' and submit figures to reach unreachable targets. It is wonderful to see, on the Letthekidsbekids website that so many head teachers and teachers are supporting this campaign and are saying thank you to parents for helping their voice to be heard. Our children are too young to be put under pressure like this - the new curriculum's demands are bewildering to me! Children at the age of 6 and 10 years are expected to know grammatical knowledge which even scholars in the subject can't answer!! These are not skills which will set our children up for life. There are many around the country who are supporting this campaign. If you haven't heard about it, check out the website to see if you'd like to join in on Tuesday!

roll on What an excellent letter. That's it exactly. That's why I support the strike.

shoesSHOES they might say they keep it low key (and it has been in the past) but these are the instructions for testing SIX and SEVEN year olds! Tests whose results won't even be reported! Yet schools must cover the walls in case there are any clues that might help... Arrange seats so children can't copy ... Ensure they can see a clock in order that they can pace themselves ... Be escorted to the toilet in case they cheat ... Does that sound low key to you? Does that sound like normal classroom practice? Will children notice? Will they realise they are being tested?

An extract from Nicky Morgan's speech at the head teachers conference

"Historically, the floor standard has identified only a small proportion of schools every year which are below that standard - and this year I can reassure you that no more than 1% more schools will be below the floor standard than last year."

(Wonder how she can make such a promise surely not fiddling the results)

To get primary assessment right we have to make sure teachers have the time and resources to prepare, so we appreciate that we have to make primary assessment run more smoothly, with as much support as possible.

(Releasing exemplifucation materials less than a month before tests?)

But I don’t accept the claim from some outside this hall, that the higher expectations embodied in the new national curriculum are somehow ‘inappropriate’. Virtually all children have the potential to become properly literate and numerate and I am unwilling, as I know you are, to settle for anything less."

(Y2 children expected to meet expectations previously aimed at Y4 ... Can we speed up maturity and development?)

surely better to let them get on with it and emphasis that the result doesn't matter a jot and you don't mind wether they pass or fail?

I agree with this. Most of the 'teaching to the test' has been done now. The best protest would be to let the natural consequence happen. If the tests are too hard, the children will fail. The year 2 children won't be told if they fail anyway will they.

I sincerely hope no teacher has been drilling six year olds to pace themselves

(It isn't a booklet it is official instructions of how the tests must be administered published alongside information about the consequences of "maladministration")

Because the multiple issues involved have been set out time. Lots of times actually for many months now.

If you can't/won't grasp them, then I can't help you with that, I'm afraid

Ah, so - if I'm too stupid to understand that's my problem but I'm expected to go along with it anyway?

Rather ironic, really; is that how teachers address pupils who don't grasp an idea?

I know there is a great deal of dissatisfaction amongst parents about the education system - what no one has satisfactorily explained is how this action is designed to address that. What I'm hearing is people saying that they're doing something - without really understanding why and how what they are doing will make any difference

I certainly won't be teaching my class to pace themselves. I'm too busy teaching them to y'know, read and do maths and stuff. And trying to find the time to make learning fun.

In the tests I'll be giving them as much time as they need to show what they know. Luckily, the Y2 tests don't have to be strictly timed... Not this year, anyway....

It's basically a way to demonstrate that dissatisfaction to the government and the more people who express their displeasure the harder it is for it to be ignored.
One person muttering away on social media is easy to dismiss whereas well supported action can't be brushed under the carpet (especially if the media report the protest)

TimeforaNNChange I honestly think that this is the first step, and it's a valid step. For parents to just say 'This isn't right. We're not happy with the decisions being made.' It isn't a single issue problem, like the poll tax. There are so many problems, how can one be identified as the main concern? I'm seeing this almost as a vote of no confidence in the government's education policies. If parents can stand up and say 'there is a problem here' then that can lead on to an analysis of what the problems are.

you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/parents-support-sats-boycott-kids-strike-3rd-may

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Mrsk "I'm seeing this almost as a vote of no confidence in the government's education policies."

Mrz "It's basically a way to demonstrate that dissatisfaction to the government and the more people who express their displeasure the harder it is for it to be ignored.

Which are both very legitimate reasons to take action - but neither are mentioned on the "official" letkidsbekids website which is co-ordinating the action on Tues.

It seems to me that an initial call to action by a group of parents with a specific agenda (the Yr2 SATS testing regime) has been hijacked by others, with different agendas and all these voices are clamouring away with no common purpose. Even the letkidsbekids website is saying that some parents are using the day to object against the proposals regarding academies - yet that is not something that the page specifically lends its support to.

I suppose what I'm trying to gauge is the likely impact. If every parent who was withdrawing their DCs was united in a cause, that would be impactive - but it seems to me that lots of disparate causes are all jumping on the same bandwagon, and the messages are getting lost.

The messages are not lost, they are gaining more momentum every day!

I'm sorry you don't understand them.

feenie the two posts I have just quoted are reasons given by posters on MN strike action.

Yet they are not included on the official website.

That's not clarity. That's not gaining momentum. That's confusion. That's dilution of a message. If every parent who joins the action does it for a different reason, where is the commonality?

If the action group are seeking to garner support, what are they asking parents to support? Are they expressing overall dissatisfaction with the government or is it, as the website sets out, more targeted? What are the issues?

Or is it, as it increasingly seems, an opportunity for parents to keep their kids of school for a range of different reasons varying from the way in which the curriculum has been introduced to objections to the attendance policies implemented by schools.

It may be clear in your mind, but it is not clear to everyone. As so many teachers are involved and supporting this action, surely there are the skills amongst the campaigners to succinctly explain it so that everyone understands?

Yep. So pleased that the national media is running with this!

I think the united cause is dissatisfaction with this governments educational policies.

mrz. The problem I see with such a broad commonality is that it disintegrates when it is examined.

Say, for instance, that as a result of this action, parent representatives are invited to meet with education ministers (unlikely, I realise). What message will those representatives send? the message "We, as parents, are unhappy" is going to unravel as soon as parents are asked what they are unhappy about, because every parent has different aspects of education that they are unhappy about.

Some parents who are taking action support aspects of the White Paper. Others object to all testing. Some object to testing this year, until the curriculum is embedded. Others want the curriculum scrapped.

Being dissatisfied with education policy is one thing, but in order to bring about change, there needs to be unity as to which elements of the policy are unpopular. What this action seems to be exposing is that different parents support and object to different elements. Politicians know that they can't please all the people all the time, so don't expect to - any organised action needs to communicate that a majority are all objecting to the same proposals!

I disagree. The message is that parents are unhappy about educational policies rather than a single issue . They certainly didn't appear to be "unraveling" in the interviews I've seen and read.

The message is that parents are unhappy about educational policies rather than a single issue

I agree, that message is clear - what isn't at all clear is what those who are taking action expect to happen once that message is heard.

Being unhappy about education policy is one thing - but being able to articulate what you want changed is essential if you want to bring about change.

Oh my god, you are so boring!

reclaimingschools.org/2016/04/25/protecting-children-from-national-tests/

My son's YR2 teachers says neither the LA or the DofE want to see the results of this year's KS2 SATS and they will be relying solely on teachers assessments. Can anyone please tell me what the government's rationale for this is?

feenie Who, me? Why?

Because I'm not sheeplike following the crowd and I'm trying to understand why I'm being encouraged to withdraw my DD from school and what benefit it will bring to her and others?

Because I'm asking questions?

Why am I boring, feenie?