Sats scrapped at Key Stage 3: will they soon be abolished totally?

After the summer marking fiasco, and constant controversy over the ethics of testing young children, SATS have been abolished for 14 year olds. The move came yesterday, with Schools Secretary Ed Balls saying that the Key Stage 3 tests would be replaced by more intensive teacher assesmment and new systems for tracing the performance of pupils.

The move has been widely welcomed by teachers, unions, experts and parents. Mr Balls denied that reforms were a U-turn in government policy on testing but did concede that his decision had been influenced by the opinion of headteachers.

“We are moving away from a one-off national test to a more intensive tracking in Years 7, 8 and 9,” Mr Balls said. “I don’t think it necessarily means less testing, but it certainly means less national testing done externally.”

Tests for 11 year olds will remain, although they may be replaced by a single-level testing system.

Editor's commentWe welcome this move, which will hopefully lead to productive but less stressful testing for children