With very little support from anybody, apart from the last Labour government, it seems that things are stirring with regard to the SAT tests for 11 year olds. Last year many teachers and schools boycotted the tests as a protest, meaning this year’s results were pretty meaningless.
Michael Grove, the Education Secretary, has been given information that suggests the curriculum for Year 6 has been badly affected by concentrating too much on getting good results in the tests. He has ordered an independent review which will be led by Lord Bew. This review should be able to report by June 2011, which will not be of much relief for all those children talking tests next summer. However, I believe it is a step in the right direction, but Grove is stating that parents will still need to know how well their local primary school is doing. Hopefully this will be judged on a wider range of issues.
Russell Hobby, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers said,
“It is wrong that a narrow snapshot of attainment can be used to judge the performance of a school….it is wrong that the education of children in primary schools is narrow and distorted.”
It seems that the governments efforts to remove quangos will take an early leap forward by getting rid of the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, responsible for the administration of tests, with the Department for Education taking over.