Headteachers Demand Cancelling SATs Due to Students Absence
Because of the ongoing disruption to education caused by Covid-19, headteachers are asking ministers to cancel the SATs exam for next summer.
As reported by Sky News, school delegates heard the opinion of many school leaders before voting on and passing a motion requesting the national executive to lobby the government to cancel all primary school statutory exams for 2020.
Some Headteachers Statements
Head of Millfield Primary School in Walsall, Michelle Sheehy, told Sky News: “Our current Year Six children all had hugely different experiences during the previous school year and the differences continue today.”
Michelle had also added: “If data from the SATs are being used to compare schools, it is desperately unfair.”. “If, as the minister for schools said, ‘this is their only purpose’, then why would we be wasting time administering costly and pointless tests?”
At the union’s conference in London, Michelle had stated: “How many of our schools have been unaffected by COVID-19 this term? Very few I would think.”
Noting that SATs exams for Year, which the main purpose is to compare schools’ performance, were canceled for two years in a row this summer. The government had stated that they are intending to run the SATs in summer 2022.
As for Emily Proffitt, head of Cooper Perry Primary School near Stafford, she had stated in the conference: “In Stafford at the moment, we see the highest levels of COVID-19 reoccurring across the country and all of our schools are back into full measures that we saw pre-September.
“How on earth can all children be expected to be put through these assessments when we are back to the measures that we saw last year? SATs have to be reviewed this year.”
She then added regarding SATs: “It’s not effective, it is not right for our children, and we need to look at this seriously.”
The Rise in Covid-19 Cases is Concerning
The union is also requesting for more strict measures to be followed in school since the number of cases is rising again. Almost 270,000 secondary students got infected last week.
The education secretary has mentioned that facial masks could be mandatory again.
ShortURL ⬇
