As primary school kids settle down to take their SATs this week, a think tank has stepped up the call for the tests to be scrapped.
The controversial exams should be replaced with regular online tests for younger children and 'digital SATS' for year 9s, says EDSK (short for Education and Skills). It published a paper calling for a ten-year plan to reform primary and secondary education, in which it criticised the "relentless focus on high stakes tests such as SATs in primary school .... they are encouraging schools to ‘teach to the test’ and narrow the curriculum to spend more time on exam preparation”.
The body says the Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) at the end of primary school should be replaced by 'regular online testing' from the ages of five to 14, which should be geared towards "low-stakes ‘digital SATs’ for 14-year-olds in almost all national curriculum subjects to inform their future subject choices”.
The paper said: “The enduring obsession with pen-and-paper tests is at odds with other countries such as Australia, Denmark and Wales, who have already dropped written exams in favour of national online testing.”
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SATs, aimed at kids as young as six, check how well they're doing in English and Maths. All pupils in Year 6 in England will do SATS, and at some schools students in Year 2. Since their launch in 1991, the exams have attracted a fair share of controversy, with both parents and teachers calling for them to be axed, saying they make schools into 'exam factories' and turn children against education.
But the government insists the 'tests are in pupils' own interests', helping both parents and teachers identify where additional support is needed to 'make sure all children leave primary school having mastered the basics of literacy and numeracy'.
In English, youngsters are quizzed on spelling, punctuation and grammar, while in maths, they are tested on arithmetic and reasoning.
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