Lambeth Teacher with Lambeth NUT

Below is a copy of a letter sent to all schools at the turn of the year, Including Heads and Chairs of Governors. It follows on from a survey of members conducted by the National Union of Teachers.

NOT GOOD FOR CHILDREN

The Campaign Against National Curriculum Testing

I am writing to seek your views about the effects of the SATs and your support for a campaign for their abolition. Last year the Welsh assembly abolished Key Stage l SATs, instead trusting in teacher assessment to inform parents, carers and schools about the progress pupils make.

England now stands alone in Britain: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland now have no end of key stage tests for 7 year olds. Nor do they publish primary league at any key stage. Northern Ireland also has teacher assessment only for key stage 2.

The NUT believes that England should catch up and go further. We believe that there is a very strong case against national curriculum testing at all three key stages. The case is overwhelming; most glaringly in primary schools.

I attach two NUT documents: "Not good for children" and "The case against testing in England" which outline the Union's case. I hope that governing bodies will agree to hold a discussion about merits of national curriculum testing. I hope that many of Lambeth's primary school governing bodies will then agree to support the campaign for abolition of the KS l and KS2 SATs. The NUT believes that the campaign against SATs is growing in strength.

As well as the Welsh example, many other education opinion formers are speaking out. Margaret Morrisey, the press officer of the NCPTA (National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations) and Barry Sheerman MP, Chair of the Commons Select Committee on Education have both urged that Key Stage 1 test should be abolished. In addition, Margaret Edgington a leading Education consultant believes the Key Stage 1 SATs should be abolished to "remove the pressure on schools to achieve limited academic targets" which are undermining the very welcome Foundation stage.

To ascertain the views of our members the NUT conducted a random survey in the summer term 2002. The survey was scientifically carried out with no leading questions or encouragement from the Union to answer in particular ways.

The results were most instructive:

• More than 80% said that the tests take too much classroom time.
• Only 7.1 % believed the tests to be educationally worthwhile.
• More than 86% thought that the tests narrowed the curriculum.
• Over 87% thought the unions should ballot to boycott the KS2 tests.
• More than 92% thought the unions should ballot to boycott the key stage 1 tests.

After ten years of these tests teachers' opposition to this crude system continues to grow. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, but I hope that you do feel able to have a discussion about it at your governing body and would be very interested to know what conclusions you reach. We hope that you will agree to support our campaign for the abolition of Key Stage 1 and 2 SATs and the primary school league tables.

Yours sincerely,

Ray Sirotkinn

Authors against the SATs

Statement

We are children's authors and illustrators concerned by the growing domination of the schools curriculum by the SAT tests.

We believe that there is a danger that Year 2, Year 6 and Year 9 (seven year olds, eleven year olds and fourteen year olds respectively) are becoming years spent preparing for the tests. We think that children's understanding, empathy, imagination and creativity are developed best by reading whole books, not by doing comprehension exercises on short excerpts and not from ticking boxes or giving one word answers. It is our view that reading for pleasure is being squeezed by the relentless pressure of testing and we are particularly concerned that the SATs and the preparation for them are creating an atmosphere of anxiety around the reading of literature. Resources now being channelled into testing could and should be redirected towards libraries, the training of librarians and book provision.

As authors and illustrators, we are unable to exert any direct pressure on the education system so we would like to show our concern with the situation by supporting calls by some teachers' unions and by the National Association for the Teaching of English for the abolition or phasing out of the SATs.

Supported by :

Beverley Naidoo, Jamila Gavin, Brian Keaney, Lisa Kopper, Carol Ann Duffy, David Almond, Alan Gibbons, Robert and Brenda Swindells, Linda Newbery, Philip Pullman, Michael Morpurgo, John Shelley, Elizabeth, Lindsay, Penny Dolan, Jane Ray, David Belbin, Michael Rosen, Malcolm Rose, Theresa Tomlinson, Ann Jungman, Geraldine McCaughrean, Caroline Pitcher, Ros Asquith, Lionel Bender, Rowena Edlin-White, Paul Dowswell, Stephanie Baudet, Ian Whybrow, Lionel Bender, Sheridan Cain, Tim Bowler, Alison Leonard, Abi Brown, Malachy Doyle, Lynn Huggins-Cooper, Nicola Morgan, Jonathan Emmett, David Bedford, Steve Weatherill, Neil Arksey, Denis Bond, Melvin Burgess, Georgia Byng, Bernard Ashley, Anna Perera, Ted Dewan, Diana Hendry, Gwen Grant, Steve Barlow, Steve Skidmore, Enid Richemont, Bob Graham, Tony Bradman, Tony Mitton, Debi Gliori, Rachel Anderson, Morris Gleizman, Jeremy Strong, Julie Bertagna, Alison Prince, Judith Nicholls, Pauline Chandler, Wendy Smith, Martyn Beardsley, Paul Geraghty, Andrea Shavick, Gill Vickery, Mary Hoffman, Val Bierman, Keith Gray, Graham Gardner, Chris Powling, Vivien French, John Cunliffe, Linda Kempton, Lindsay Fraser, Peter Buckman, Shoo Rayner, Elizabeth Laird, Josephine Feeney, Chris Riddell, Ivan Jones, Sally Gardner, Brian Lux, Waltraud Boxall, Thomas Bloor Pat Thompson, Beth Webb Diana Pullein-Thompson And Rosie Rushton.

Contact : Alan Gibbons aagibbons@blueyonder.co.uk

Results of Survey conducted by Liberal Democrats (PDF Format)

Are you teaching Year 2 or Year 6? .............Can you let us have your views? ........