Balls warns SATs boycott will breach schools’ statutory duty
- May 11, 2010
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Keywords:
- boycott
- head
- sats
- teachers
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Support for the SATs examinations boycott across the UK is said to be ‘patchy’, but it is estimated up to 600,000 11-year-olds will be disrupted this week as head teachers choose to boycott the tests
Schools Secretary Ed Balls asked teachers not to support the boycott, warning a breach of the school’s statutory duty to hold SATs examinations.
Heads and deputies from two of the largest teaching unions, the NUT and the NAHT, voted in favour of the boycott, with SATS scheduled to take place from Monday 10 May.
Protests from schools have come in the light of Maths and English results which are then subsequently used to make up the primary school league tables. Many teachers have been criticised for ‘teaching the tests’ to boost the school’s ranking; resulting in other subjects being left out of the curriculum.
The General Secretary of the NAHT, Mick Brookes, argued that schools should not be held to the results of one year group and should not merely focus on the results of English and Maths.
Similarly General Secretary of the NUT, Christine Blower, argued that such a boycott should encourage the Government to listen and engage with the profession in reforming primary assessment.
In Hartlepool, all 31 primary schools are said to be boycotting with around half the schools in Manchester and Birmingham.
