Teacher unions in SATs protest

THE campaign to scrap SATs will hit the streets of Oldham tomorrow.

Teachers and head teachers will be collecting signatures for a petition calling on the Government to ditch national tests for 11-year-olds.

They will also be giving out frisbees to children with the message “SATs Must Go” as part of a national day of action.

The Government has already abolished national tests for 14-year-olds after a marking fiasco delayed the results of thousands of pupils.

Now both the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the National Association of Head Teachers have agreed to ballot members for a boycott of the tests for 11-tear-old if these are not also scrapped.

Members of both unions will be in the High Street from 10am — the first time they have joined forces in Oldham.

Bryan Beckingham, branch secretary of Oldham NUT, said: “SATs have blighted the education of our children for too long. They do not help education, they are merely a method for producing league tables.

“There is overwhelming evidence that SATs have damaged the education of our children and it is time for teachers to say no to the process.

“The Government has ended SATs at the age of 14 and Scotland and Wales do not have SATs, so why are we maintaining them for primary school children in England?

“We know teachers are overwhelmingly opposed to this system of assessment which is inaccurate and undermined the morale of children. We also believe parents will join us in opposing the continuance of SATs.”