THE primary schools SATs league tables have been produced and parents are looking to check their school is getting high scores.
But teaching children to pass tests is not the right model for education. This “Big Brother” presence in the classroom has narrowed the curriculum and turned teachers into stressed target chasers and children into passive recipients of lessons geared to maximising SAT results and the school’s league table position.
The Green Party would abolish SATs and devolve more control to schools over curriculum and policy, in order to let teachers teach, and help children learn. That is surely preferable to the stressful cramming that is poorly understood and quickly forgotten, as a result of “teaching to the test”.
FELICITY NORMAN, Green Party European Election Candidate, West Midlands.
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