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Minister faces teachers over Sats | |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Schools Secretary Ed Balls has attempted to head off a showdown with England's head teachers over controversial Sats tests. | |
He told heads meeting in Brighton a boycott of the tests was "not the right or responsible approach". | |
They are to vote on whether to ballot on boycotting next year's tests. | |
He acknowledged league tables give only a "narrow view" of a school, and said the current assessment system "was not set in stone". | |
The heads argue the tests, taken by 11-year-olds in England, put too much pressure on children and narrow the curriculum. | |
President of the National Association of Head Teachers, Chris Howard, said there would be no end to their campaign until the "tyranny of testing and league tables" was over. | |
Pressure | |
Head teachers and classroom teachers all dislike the test and most of all the league tables made from them. | |
They say teachers are forced to "teach to the test," focussing most on the three subjects tested, English, maths and science. | |
Children and schools are both put under too much pressure over the tests, they say. | |
In other parts of the UK, children are tested but the tests are marked in school and are not used to make league tables. | |
At the Naht's annual conference, Mr Howard told delegates: "There will be no conclusion to our honest and well-reasoned campaign to stop the tyranny of testing and tables for primary schools in England until they have been ended." | |
And he suggested it was "high noon" for the government, which he said had promised "education, education, education", but had delivered "regulation, regulation, regulation." | |
We don't want to ballot for industrial action. We want to work to get a better system for our children David AllenDelegate | |
The organisation says the tests should be replaced by assessment of pupils by teachers, which already takes place. | |
The National Union of Teachers recently voted to ballot its members on a boycott and this will probably take place in the autumn. | |
The two groups together make up most of the teaching staff in England's primary schools so a joint boycott by them could throw next year's Sats into disarray. | |
Their action comes after the embarrassing shambles of this year's tests, when marking problems led to severe delays in publication of hundreds of thousands of children's test results. | |
The government went on to scrap compulsory tests for 14-year-olds. | |
Arriving at the conference ahead of Mr Balls' speech, many delegates voiced their opposition. | |
Martin Thacker, from Chesterfield, said: "I will attempt to keep an open mind but successive education ministers have not delivered on their promises." | Martin Thacker, from Chesterfield, said: "I will attempt to keep an open mind but successive education ministers have not delivered on their promises." |
Karen Brookes, a head teacher from Nottinghamshire, said she hoped Mr Balls would come with something concrete to "move forward with for next year". | Karen Brookes, a head teacher from Nottinghamshire, said she hoped Mr Balls would come with something concrete to "move forward with for next year". |
"The issue is not about the tests themselves, which could be used to inform a teacher's assessment, it is the league tables issue for me - what is being done with the data." | "The issue is not about the tests themselves, which could be used to inform a teacher's assessment, it is the league tables issue for me - what is being done with the data." |
David Allen, a head from Nottingham, said: "We don't want to ballot for industrial action. We want to work to get a better system for our children". | |