Primary school strikes

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Discussion

Crush

Original Poster:

15,077 posts

168 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/02/heads-t...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/parent...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/30000-parents...



Apparently the SATs are too tough for them. Heard one angry mum on the radio declaring "I couldn't pass these tests and I'm a business manager with a degree". I'm quite concerned by that rofl

Jockman

17,912 posts

159 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
"Many (Headteachers) have privately signalled to parents that while they cannot condone truancy, they will not be taking action against them for doing so"

Does this mean tacit agreement?

JagLover

42,265 posts

234 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
Increased pressure these days?

How about a test at 11 that determines the course of the rest of your life?

SATS are one of the few ways of objectively measuring both progress and outcomes at primary schools.

0000

13,812 posts

190 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
There's something that doesn't seem quite right to me about national tests at the age of 6. I can't see an issue with the later ones particularly.

Another case of public sector workers getting their knickers in a twist and deciding a day off work is the answer again.

valiant

10,066 posts

159 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
0000 said:
There's something that doesn't seem quite right to me about national tests at the age of 6. I can't see an issue with the later ones particularly.

Another case of public sector workers getting their knickers in a twist and deciding a day off work is the answer again.
Isn't it parents refusing to take their kids in to school for the day as a protest?

I think the teachers are all turning up as usual.

Jim the Sunderer

3,238 posts

181 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all


Hopefully the real exams are marked better than the Telegraph's online version.

markh1973

1,787 posts

167 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
JagLover said:
Increased pressure these days?

How about a test at 11 that determines the course of the rest of your life?

SATS are one of the few ways of objectively measuring both progress and outcomes at primary schools.
I have a 7 year old and an 11 year old so both doing SATS next week.

Neither of them feel under any pressure about them - now there could be a number of reasons for this - they are both intelligent and will do well, we as parents haven't put any pressure on them, their schools aren't putting any pressure on them and making them a big thing.

There is a genuine concern in that the 11 year old is doing SATS based on a curriculum that changed part way through KS2 - as such they have to sit exams based on a curriculum that didn't exist when they started KS2.

Vaud

50,287 posts

154 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
Jim the Sunderer said:


Hopefully the real exams are marked better than the Telegraph's online version.
That one annoyed me as well. Idiots.

Ridgemont

6,486 posts

130 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
0000 said:
There's something that doesn't seem quite right to me about national tests at the age of 6. I can't see an issue with the later ones particularly.

Another case of public sector workers getting their knickers in a twist and deciding a day off work is the answer again.
Personally I'm in favour. Was listening to various sources explaining on R4 that Teachers would prefer teacher observation to testing.

My experience is that teacher observation allowed me to weasel my way through to 11 years of age before anyone realised (via the 11+) that I was functionally innumerate and had spent 6 years gaming teachers to avoid learning something I had no interest in.
Fortunately my parents were able to afford lots of additional tuition, and we moved into a comprehensive local authority, so that by the time GCSEs came around, I was able to get good grades, but half a dozen teachers basically reassured my mother that I was fine. bks to teacher led observation.


Vaud

50,287 posts

154 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
I am also in favour though would like more clarity about how the results are used. Some schools tell parents, some don't. Some might use it for streaming, some not.

I'm fine with it being used as a general indicator as to where pupils need support, but not as anything that becomes a life impacting decision.

Though I suspect it is more that it has been badly communicated.

Jockman

17,912 posts

159 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
Vaud said:
Jim the Sunderer said:


Hopefully the real exams are marked better than the Telegraph's online version.
That one annoyed me as well. Idiots.
My word......

speedyman

1,523 posts

233 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
Teacher's already know the level each child is working at, so the tests are not going to tell them anything they don't already know and should have already been communicated to the parents.
Children are all different and progress at different rates, a child born in September and one born in August but both in the same class may be very different at such a young age due to one being nearly a year older and having greater capacity to understand and concentrate. Its to young to start testing these kids in my opinion.


Lucas CAV

3,021 posts

218 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
speedyman said:
Teacher's already know the level each child is working at, so the tests are not going to tell them anything they don't already know and should have already been communicated to the parents.
Children are all different and progress at different rates, a child born in September and one born in August but both in the same class may be very different at such a young age due to one being nearly a year older and having greater capacity to understand and concentrate. Its to young to start testing these kids in my opinion.

As far as I can see, the only purpose of these tests is to provide a base from which the government will measure progress over ks2, 3 and 4.

IIRC (from the parents info evening) the results will also be used to set expected grades for the children for those key stages.


As a Year 2 parent I support rigor in KS1 which seemed to be lacking in some schools that we visited.

However the focus on grammar and "preparing for the test" at the expense of virtually everything else (and this might just be my son's experience) seems wrong to me.

I don't recall giving a second's thought to tests until I was about 15 years old - I'm not sure I am comfortable with a 7 year old having to worry about it.

The Surveyor

7,576 posts

236 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
This 'action' is just a sad by-product of the promotion of parental choice in education. Parents start to believe that they are the ones who can decide on the type of education that their little darlings get, and when they don't like something they think the best action is to pull their children out of school.

There was a parent being interviewed on the News yesterday, 3 children all being kept off school by the protesting mother who just happened to be a teacher, proclaiming how difficult and stressful the tests were. What sort of example is that setting the children? If something's difficult, just run away and have a 'family fun day' instead... FFS that's going to really stand them in good stead for the future!

Oh and how does she, as a teacher get a day off during term time. Hopefully the school governors will be equally annoyed.

National testing that correctly identifies how well individual children are performing, how teachers are performing, how schools and LEA's are performing against other comparable has to be good thing. It's for the parents and teachers to present them in a way that doesn't put the children under undue stress IMHO


Vaud

50,287 posts

154 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
Lucas CAV said:
I don't recall giving a second's thought to tests until I was about 15 years old - I'm not sure I am comfortable with a 7 year old having to worry about it.
I worried about tests every week - speeling, times tables, history tests, etc. This just seems to bring a bit more structure and standardisation?

Ridgemont

6,486 posts

130 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
speedyman said:
Teacher's already know the level each child is working at, so the tests are not going to tell them anything they don't already know and should have already been communicated to the parents.
As per my earlier post, this certainly wasn't true in the past. My teachers were firmly convinced I was standard for my peer group. I wasn't. I was unable to do basic Maths until 12 years old. I was very good at hiding that fact however and was only rumbled at part of the 11+.
I'm not close enough to changes in methodology to know whether or not anything material has changed, but it was pretty simple for me to pretend a level of knowledge I didn't have, whether it be from cribbing, convenient sick days, blagging on an heroic level etc.

TwigtheWonderkid

43,246 posts

149 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
I'm told if left their own devices, these early tests are done in such a way as the kids hardly know they are sitting a test. It's the faux outrage of the parents that transmits to the kids which is why they are stressed.

Like the zoo in Sweden that fed the dead zebra to the tigers. Apparently hysterical mums were saying their kids were screaming and traumatised. Errr...no, they were screaming and traumatised and so the kids were effected by the parents' stupidity.

Having said that, there's far too much testing these days. You don't fatten up a pig by weighing it, but by feeding it.

bazza white

3,550 posts

127 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
My Mrs is a primary teacher and really stressed with these. They have ramped up the curriculum this year but the problem is getting a pupil to the new level when they have been taught lower level previous years and expecting good results is a slight problem. It will improve every year going forward however and get a little easier for teachers but expecting a teacher to teach a 5/6 year backlog is a big ask.





The Surveyor

7,576 posts

236 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
bazza white said:
My Mrs is a primary teacher and really stressed with these. They have ramped up the curriculum this year but the problem is getting a pupil to the new level when they have been taught lower level previous years and expecting good results is a slight problem. It will improve every year going forward however and get a little easier for teachers but expecting a teacher to teach a 5/6 year backlog is a big ask.
But this will be the same in every single school. If nationally the results show that the children aren't ready them let the authorities address that. If there's a specific school that performs way below that level, then the problem is a little closer to home.

The Surveyor

7,576 posts

236 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
TwigtheWonderkid said:
I'm told if left their own devices, these early tests are done in such a way as the kids hardly know they are sitting a test. It's the faux outrage of the parents that transmits to the kids which is why they are stressed.

Like the zoo in Sweden that fed the dead zebra to the tigers. Apparently hysterical mums were saying their kids were screaming and traumatised. Errr...no, they were screaming and traumatised and so the kids were effected by the parents' stupidity.

Having said that, there's far too much testing these days. You don't fatten up a pig by weighing it, but by feeding it.
Sums it up pretty well. Although I do think that the more frequent the testing, the less anxious the children become.