Forget Sats – find a true measure of education | Letters

Clive Stafford Smithsays Sats are irrelevant to his son ’s life andMary Bousteddefends Labour ’s proposed assessment reforms, whileAnn MooreandRichard Wetherellhighlight the negative effects of testsAmanda Spielman may be warning the wrong people about exam anxiety, certainly as far as younger kids are concerned (Ofsted chief says teachers can cause ‘subliminal’ exam anxiety, May 14). My 10-year-old is not worried because I have told him Sats are irrelevant to his life. His secondary school will determine how best he will fit in, based on its own testing, when he gets there in September. I did ask him to do his best in sympathy with the people who are sweating it out this week: his excellent teachers, whose lives – and the rating of the school – depend on how he does at rote nonsense.Meanwhile, the true quality of his education is illustrated by the year 6 leavers ’ scrapbook year after year, which always tells the same story: the stellar moments each child remembers are extracurricular experiences such as acting in plays, spending a week together on Exmoor or learning about Mary Anning in Lyme Regis. We parents can also play our part – as a lawyer, I hav e supervised the trial of three teachers for “murdering” the headteacher, with the local police arriving to oversee the investigation. (They were all acquitted by exemplary 10-year-old jurors, I am glad to say.)Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Exams Education Sats Schools Primary schools Secondary schools Ofsted Teaching GCSEs Psychology Labour Education policy Liberal Democrats Source Type: news