Tests for 11-year-olds are just as important as GCSEs and A-levels in holding schools to account, Gordon Brown declared yesterday. His intervention in the row over national curriculum SATs tests comes just as heads and teachers prepare to ballot on a boycott of them next year. The stand-off between the two sides makes it likely that the row over tests will be the Government's next major confrontation with trade unions following the post office workers' strike.
Tests for 11-year-olds are just as important as GCSEs and A-levels in holding schools to account, Gordon Brown declared yesterday.
His intervention in the row over national curriculum SATs tests comes just as heads and teachers prepare to ballot on a boycott of them next year.
The stand-off between the two sides makes it likely that the row over tests will be the Government's next major confrontation with trade unions following the post office workers' strike.
My head is spinning from the many acronyms in the article. Someone with a handy rundown of what this is all about? *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
BBC NEWS | UK | Education | School tests: who takes what
Why are they called 'Sats'? Officially they aren't - though that has become the almost universal name for them. In 1991 the Conservatives had a trial run of Standard Assessment Tasks (hence the acronym "Sats") for six and seven-year-olds in infant schools across England and Wales. Originally they were practical "tasks" rather than pencil-and-paper tests. In science, for example, groups had to experiment with rocks, feathers, and plastic to see whether they would float or sink in water. The then education secretary, Kenneth Clarke, changed them to written tests which all pupils could take simultaneously. So national curriculum testing was born, but the old acronym stuck. Not to be confused with the totally different SATs (pronounced as initials - "S-A-T" - rather than as a word) used in the US for assessing people's college potential.
Why are they called 'Sats'?
Officially they aren't - though that has become the almost universal name for them.
In 1991 the Conservatives had a trial run of Standard Assessment Tasks (hence the acronym "Sats") for six and seven-year-olds in infant schools across England and Wales.
Originally they were practical "tasks" rather than pencil-and-paper tests. In science, for example, groups had to experiment with rocks, feathers, and plastic to see whether they would float or sink in water.
The then education secretary, Kenneth Clarke, changed them to written tests which all pupils could take simultaneously.
So national curriculum testing was born, but the old acronym stuck.
Not to be confused with the totally different SATs (pronounced as initials - "S-A-T" - rather than as a word) used in the US for assessing people's college potential.
Also:
General Certificate of Secondary Education - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 15-16 in secondary education in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. (In Scotland, the equivalent is the Standard Grade.) Some students may decide to take one or more GCSEs before or afterwards; people may apply for GCSEs at any point either internally through an institution or externally. The education systems of other British territories, such as Gibraltar, and the former British dominion of South Africa, also use the qualifications, as supplied by the same examination boards. The International version of the GCSE is the IGCSE, which can be taken anywhere in the world, and which includes additional options, for example relating to coursework and the language used. When GCSEs are taken by students in secondary education, they can often be combined with other qualifications, such as BTECs, the DiDA, or diplomas.
brown doesn't listen. He's notorious for being a stolid arrogant pussbag. keep to the Fen Causeway
He's notorious for being a stolid arrogant pussbag.
I get to be Dilbert.
I have to go tie shopping. Now where's the fun in that! - Megatron
Both Mick Brookes, general secretary of the NAHT, and Christine Blower, the NUT leader, have declared that "the end is nigh" for SATs tests in the wake of their conference votes in favour of a boycott ballot. They argue a boycott will free teachers from having to "teach to the test" to ensure a good showing in exam league tables - and therefore provide pupils with a broader and more balanced curriculum.
I'm not so plugged into the Brit scene but this sounds an awful lot like the criticisms of Bush's "No Child Left Behind" program, i.e. that it promotes teaching children to perform well on standardized tests, rather than facilitating learning of creative or critical thinking (I have read that in some US school districts, they even cut out physical education and recess and physical education to allow more time for programming the poor kids to take the standardized tests).
In the US at least (and the article seems to imply that it is the case in the UK as well), a general poor performance level of a school's pupils tends to be interpreted solely as a failure of the school, and not as an indication of social deficits. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
