More Than A Score’s response to the government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review:
We are deeply disappointed on behalf of primary heads and teachers who started with high hopes for this review. We know that many education professionals contributed their knowledge and experience of the negative effects of the current system. These have been ignored.
Rather than reducing the primary assessment burden, the Review is, instead, recommending that more children spend more time preparing for government tests, including children with SEND.
The much-derided SPAG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) exam has been expanded, although at least it appears that arcane grammatical terms such as fronted adverbials have had their day.
The school community from heads and teachers to parents and, most importantly, children will continue to pay the price for a system which values the collection of unreliable data over love of learning and children’s wellbeing. Year 6 pupils, in particular, will continue to spend their last year of primary cramming for tests which do not reflect their achievements and which are a poor measure of school performance.
Meanwhile, a year 8 reading test is another stop on the conveyor belt of government assessments. It will divert resources and funding away from teaching those most in need of support with reading and will further narrow the curriculum. Tests do not create high standards – high quality teaching does.
The government did not have to accept the Review’s recommendations. The call for meaningful reform of primary assessment from school leaders, teachers, parents and children will not go away because all the problems with SATs persist. Headteachers will continue to struggle to recruit year 6 teachers; teachers will continue to leave the profession; parents will continue to see the damage done to the mental health of their 10- or 11-year-olds. The government must see reason and listen to those who know children and their education the best.