Corbyn pledges to abolish KS1 and 2 SATs

[noblegiraffe]

If Labour get elected, Corbyn says that he will abolish primary school SATs.

“Instead, Labour would introduce alternative assessments which would be based on "the clear principle of understanding the learning needs of every child."”

I’m sure some on here would think that this is a great idea, but to me it sounds like a poorly thought-out headline grabber that will cause more problems than it solves. What then for school accountability at primary and secondary? What on earth does he mean by ‘alternative assessments’ (sounds like a ‘we’ll fill in the details of that later’ policy that will be a total bodge job).

Wales went down this route and their educational standards have gone in totally the wrong direction.

I’m sure that they should be less high stakes and not allowed to distort the Y6 curriculum the way they do (tales of breakfast and Easter revision sessions for 11 year olds are horrifying) but am unconvinced that ditching them is a positive move for education.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-47950985

I do know how to teach the class in front of me, cant! Some classes need a quick reminder and some definitely need full reteaching.

In fact my Y8 set 3 needed reteaching adding fractions again this year. They’re ones who would have got around 95 in their SATs.

Apologies, Noble - but you were the one who said that the fact that some students made an obvious slip when first presented with fractions was a reason why secondary school teachers needed to go right back in Year 7...

As i said originally, yes, there is a dip post the summer, but certainly locally, the secondary found that they had assumed that the 'dip' meant the students were at a much lower point than they actually were, leading to a lack of challenge, pace and progress in Y7.

Now they have seen what the children are doing in upper KS2 in feeder schools, and adjusted their pitch, teaching and expectations as a result, they are starting to get much better progress in Y7. We found the same when we reviewed the way we did transition and book handover between year groups

was a reason why secondary school teachers needed to go right back in Year 7...

No, I’m saying that you can’t assume that something that was taught in Y5 is remembered in Y7. It would be a mistake for teachers to go into primary schools and say ‘gosh, I didn’t realise they already taught this, let’s bin it from the Y7 curriculum’. Some classes do need to go right back in Y7. After all they don’t end up with the same score at KS2.

I teach sixth form Economics. The majority of students have forgotten percentage change by 16. This seems to apply to those who gladly dropped Maths after GCSE and those doing Further Maths. The brain seems to forget quantitative methods more quickly than other knowledge.