School fury over SATS marking fiasco
Posted by Philip Dunne, MP for Ludlow, at 11:49, Tue 29 July 2008:
Dear Constituent,
Summer holidays began last week for schools in Shropshire. Teachers and pupils would normally be relaxing by now with only those having sat their GCSE and A-Levels waiting for their results next month.
But not this summer. Not for most 11 and 14 year olds, many of whom have not been given results of their external SATs (Standard Aptitude Tests) for Key Stage 2 and 3. The shambles of the exam marking system contracted out to ETS Europe has been widely condemned.
What is not so well known is the impact on the schools themselves and the uncertainty this could create for teachers, parents and pupils.
This was brought home by the Assistant Headteacher at one of the largest secondary schools in the constituency. He pointed out to me that by last Tuesday his school had not yet received any Maths SATs results and only 73% of Science results. It also had no English results, yet the Results section on the government's Key to Success website incorrectly showed 30% of the school's pupils as absent for their English test.
The most recent Ofsted inspection categorised the school as Satisfactory - mainly as a result of pupil performance in Maths and English. If this performance is now distorted by the incompetent test marking system, this could also undermine credibility of the school inspection regime.
This debacle has further damaged the confidence that parents, teachers, universities and employers have in the current education system. Education is a core responsibility of a competent Government, and you will recall, was meant to be the key priority of this Labour government.
Yours
Philip
Philip Dunne MP House of Commons London SW1A 0AA
and at
Ludlow Constituency office: 54 Broad Street, Ludlow Shropshire SY8 1GP
Tel: 01584 872 187
Email: philipdunne@ludlowconservatives.com Website: www.philipdunne.com
P.S. I am very grateful to all those who take the trouble to comment on my weekly email. I hope you will understand that I may not be able to respond individually given the volume of comments received each week. Copyright © 2008 Philip Dunne MP
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Posted by Matthew Genner, 09:05, Wed 30 July 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #
While the failure of ETS is causing great distress to many teachers and children it is not a symptom of Labour’s education policy. It is more to do with outsourcing to the private sector who cut corners to make larger profits.
The more important issues concern the type and amount of testing that children are required to do.
David Cameron recently said: “We have the unhappiest children in the world.” Part of this must be down to their schooling.
A report earlier this year by Dr Dominic Wyse, lecturer in primary and early years education at Cambridge University, said: “Government control of the curriculum and its assessment strongly increased during the period from 1988 to 2007, especially after 1997. The evidence on the impact of the various initiatives on standards of pupil attainment is at best equivocal and at worst negative.
“While test scores have risen since the mid-1990s, this has been achieved at the expense of children's entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum and by the diversion of considerable teaching time to test preparation.”
“The various studies reviewed would indicate that coaching for the tests has restricted curriculum coverage and the quality of teaching and learning overall. As test scores have risen, educational standards may actually have declined.”
Sir Mike Tomlinson, the former chief schools inspector who conducted an inquiry into exams for the Government, argues that today's youngsters are less capable of using their knowledge to develop an argument in an essay as a result of being constantly taught for the test. Ken Boston, chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority said last year: “In many schools too much teaching time is taken up with practice tests and preparing for the key stage tests in English, mathematics and science - at the expense of actual teaching in these core subjects and other areas of the curriculum.”
In a recent interview Ed Balls was reported as being “initially dismissive of the suggestion that large numbers of seven-year-olds are being traumatised by testing because their parents are warned in advance. ‘It doesn't happen in every school,’ he said.”
Who do you agree with and what would you do to change the number and type of examinations in schools, both primary and secondary?