Here is my second email to him about SATs:
Dear Mr Hall,
Thank you for your reply.
While I appreciate that the intricacies of the wider education reforms that have occurred over the last couple of years are not necessarily within your field of expertise, I would expect you to be able to address my concerns more directly than you have chosen to do.
Firstly, the independent review lead by Lord Bew which was partially triggered by the widespread boycott of end of Key Stage 2 SATs in 2010, did lead to some significant steps forward in what was right for schools and children up and down the country. Namely, as you rightly point out, that writing be based on teacher assessment over a year rather than an arbitrary test at the end of Year 6.
As you have also pointed out, the report recommended that tests should still continue as a way of monitoring children's basic skills in reading and maths. I would strongly argue, as a teacher of Y6 for more than 10 years, that these tests neither demonstrate that pupils have mastered those skills nor do they reassure parents that their children are receiving the best possible education.
I would like to point out that although the review appeared to recommend a small test for spelling and punctuation it in no way recommended a 45 minutes grammar paper which does not help children to use better grammar in their writing, which is surely the point of learning grammar rules; it also did not recommend testing 4 year olds within weeks of starting school and it did not recommend a timed times table test at the end of year 6; it certainly did not endorse the idea that children who do not pass the end of key stage 2 tests should be counted as failures and made to resit it at secondary school until they pass. Tests are a one off that assess how much information children have remembered over a period of time, but I am not here to argue about the futility of testing children, my point is more about the way in which changes to current assessment procedures have be carried out.
One problem is that teachers and Nicky Morgan disagree on what 'enough of the curriculum' is. As an end of Key stage test measures attainment at the end of a key stage, I would have thought that the children taking that test would have needed to cover everything in the curriculum in that Key stage, which is 4 years. These children have only been taught from the new curriculum for two years.
Furthermore, schools were told they would be informed of changes to the curriculum with enough time to prepare. Again, perhaps Mrs Morgan and teachers differ on how long this time frame should be as well. We were given sample tests at the end of Summer, interim frameworks in November and writing exemplification in February. I can categorically state that this is not enough time to prepare anyone.
Finally, schools were also advised that the expected standard would be around the same as the previous national average expectation of a 4b. Again, as an experienced Y6 teacher I can tell you that this sits concurrent with what has been recently phrased as 'Mastering the basics.' Unfortunately, it appears that yet again Mrs Morgan and teachers disagree on what mastering the basics is. The level of expectation, across the board has dramatically increased to what was commonly known as a 5c in 'old money' if you like. This is not mastering the basics this is expecting all children to be above average, thus eliminating the notion of average altogether.
I would like to reiterate my view that I welcome changes to the national curriculum and preparing young people for secondary school. What I think is unfair is the chaotic and frankly shambolic way in which these changes have been carried out.
So, in summary:
Year 6 children have not been taught enough of the new curriculum
Schools have not been given enough time to prepare
The standard is much higher than schools and parents were told it would be
If you could address these issues more specifically I would be extremely grateful. Feel free to pass this on to Mrs Morgan if that is more appropriate.
Kind regards
Dawn Wootton
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