Primary school teachers want to see Sats scrapped

By: Sally Weale.

A resounding 97% would like a ‘sensible alternative’ to the high-stakes attainment tests

A resounding 97% of primary school teachers would like to see high-stakes Sats tests scrapped, according to the largest poll undertaken on the subject.

More than 54,000 primary members of the National Education Union (NEU) took part in an indicative ballot last month. The vast majority said they supported their leaders’ campaign for “a sensible alternative” to the national standard attainment tests, which they say are damaging children and narrowing the curriculum.

The NEU said the result sent a clear message to the government that the assessment system must change. The results of a second question on the ballot paper, asking whether members would be prepared to take industrial action and boycott Sats, have not yet been released.

The NEU’s national executive will meet later this week to consider the next steps in their campaign, including industrial action, though the 39% response rate (more than 140,000 ballot papers were issued) would not meet the government’s industrial action ballot threshold.

The teachers’ poll coincides with the publication on Tuesday of the key stage 2 Sats results for 600,000 10- and 11-year-olds in England who took tests in reading, maths and spelling, punctuation and grammar (Spag) in May.

The tests are used by the government to assess school performance and hold schools to account. The NEU argues that young children should not be tested as it leads to hothousing, stress for both pupils and teachers, and a narrowing of the curriculum.

Kevin Courtney, the NEU’s joint general secretary, said the union’s indicative ballot showed there was “resounding support” for a change to primary assessment. “Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green party all have major concerns about our Sats-dominated system and have pledged to change it.

“Government now needs to listen, and to accept the need to change a culture in which too many classrooms are dominated by teaching to the test, at the expense of the learning and wellbeing of our children.”

The schools minister, Nick Gibb, dismissed the ballot, saying that scrapping Sats would be a backward step. “The NEU’s indicative ballot does not even represent half their members, let alone the whole teaching profession.

“These tests have been part of school life since the 90s and have been pivotal in raising standards in our primary schools. Abolishing these tests would be a terrible, retrograde step. It would enormously damage our education system and undo decades of improvement in children’s reading and maths.”

Jeremy Corbyn received a standing ovation when he announced to teachers gathered at the NEU’s annual conference in April that his party would scrap Sats. Delegates at the conference voted in favour of a ballot over a possible boycott of Sats tests, seeing off an amendment from the executive arguing that a ballot was not the most appropriate tactic.

Responding to the NEU ballot, the shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, said: “These results should send the government a clear message that Sats aren’t working for teachers or pupils, and it’s about time they listened.”

More Than a Score, a campaigning group of parents, teachers and education experts, said: “It’s not right or accurate to base a school’s overall performance on the test results of primary-age children. There are more supportive ways to assess children and fairer ways to measure schools, without the need to turn pupils into data points.”

Source of the article: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/jul/09/primary-school-teachers-want-to-see-sats-scrapped

Comparte este contenido:

New Zealand school teachers strike again in stand-off with Ardern government

Oceania/ New Zeland/ 13.11.2018/ Source: www.reuters.com.

School teachers walked off the job in New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, on Monday, kicking off a week of national strike action as a three-month battle over wages and work conditions tests the Labour-led government.

The latest stand-off with its traditional union support base comes just over a year after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party formed a coalition government, promising to pour money into social services and rein in economic inequality, which has increased despite years of strong growth.

Ardern boasts a glowing international profile and historically high personal popularity but has spent much of her term navigating labor disputes and plummeting business confidence.

About 30,000 teachers around New Zealand would strike throughout the week, forcing hundreds of thousands of children out of

“My plea would be for the teachers to consider the offer we put. We’ve put everything we’ve got on the table,” Ardern told reporters. “We hope they’ll see in that a government that’s really working hard to listen and hear them on the issues that they’ve raised.”

The government revamped its pay offer by NZ$129 million ($86.82 million) to a total of NZ$698 million late last week, according to Education Minister Chris Hipkins.

Members of the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI), the union representing primary school teachers, were considering the offer but had already voted to hold a series of day-long national strikes, closing hundreds of schools.

Hipkins said in an emailed statement: “It is disappointing that NZEI has decided to go ahead with strike action before asking its members to consider the strong new offer made this week during facilitation.”

The government’s determination to stick to strict “budget responsibility rules”, including delivering fiscal surpluses and paying down debt, has disappointed public service sectors. It sparked industrial action from nurses and court and tax department staff and prompted teachers in August to hold their first strike in 20 years.

Wage growth has remained sluggish in the island nation for years, despite soaring housing costs, which labor groups and economists say has left workers struggling.

Teachers have also singled out increased paperwork, staff shortages and growing class sizes as major issues, which the government has said it was working to address.

“The key things are the issues around workload and the huge amount of compliance, such as large class sizes. Teachers have tolerated this for too long,” Newton Central school principal Riki Teteina told the New Zealand Herald newspaper during a protest by striking teachers in Auckland.

Source of the notice: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-newzealand-economy-strike/new-zealand-school-teachers-strike-again-in-stand-off-with-ardern-government-idUSKCN1NH06O?il=0

Comparte este contenido: