How do parents feel about today's national curriculum test results?

There were mixed results from the SATs today. Because not all of them have actually been marked, the publication of the Key Stage 2 curriculum test results was controversial even before we knew what they were - a fall in those who exceeded expectations by getting to level 5 and a small rise in those who achieved level 4.

Jim Knight wanted to "congratulate" schools and pupils for all their hard work, and it's certainly true that children and their teachers expend much time and effort on these tests, perhaps too much, as Alexandra Frean explains.

But in amongst all the drama over the key stage assessments this summer, the parents have gone surprisingly unheard. Politicians have scored points against each other, ETS has come under fire, and teaching unions have argued about whether the results should actually have been published (the NUT says they should have been delayed until after the inevitable appeals). But throughout all this, mothers and fathers have been left wondering what to make of it all, and finding that their confidence in these tests is simply ebbing away.

Margaret Morrissey, from the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, tells me that this is a serious issue. She talks to parents daily and says they feel utterly let down by the whole SATS debacle this year, and the publication of today's results.

"After all that distress," she says, "today's publication looks like the government has done this solely for political gain. They didn't want to lose face with a delay, and have ignored all parents' concerns. Children are not at the forefront of their thinking."

Parents, of course, nearly always have their children at the forefront of their thinking. English parents have watched as Wales moved away from testing and know that the situation is different in Scotland too. But they were told to trust in SATS and have tried to remain positive. It's getting harder and harder.

This summer, parents have a number of issues they would like answered. Some worry that their children have been under-marked, and may end up in the wrong stream at secondary school Others, as one mother with special needs told me, are concerned that they have been over-marked instead. She says  her son desperately needs help at school, and inflated SAT results won't help her efforts to make sure his needs are recognised.

Many people agree that some form of testing, to measure the progress of pupils and their school, is needed at the end of primary school. Whether standardised national curriculum tests, with all their attendant stresses and pressures, are the right way to go about it has become an increasingly important question. I've written before on how the SATS debacle raises huge questions about state education in this country and the government really must address this properly, without pretending that everything should simply be business as usual. Otherwise parental confidence will soon drain away completely.

Comments

[Dipper]

We like Sats at 11. Both our children who've been through year 6 suffered from teachers having their favourites, and SATS gave them the opportunity to show what they could do on an independent test.

Life is full of tests. It does children good to get used to being tested. There was still lots of opportunities elsewhere to do kiddy things.

[Nick White]

Given the undue pressure put on schools if they fail to get near the county/national norms (Ofsted, league tables, etc) no wonder teachers 'crash course' their way through Year 6. I suggest a fly-on-the-wall documentary in a selection of schools next year where the SATs are temporarily suspended, in favour of ongoing teacher assessment. The change in ethos, use of time and expectations of how children learn would, I suggest, be very revealing. Mr Knight? Mr Knight? No, he's not listening...

[k]

Having had my children at schools in Scotland and in the English system I prefer the Scottish by far. The Scottish way of grading children on an ongoing basis is brilliant. It shows to both the teachers and parents if the child is progressing and allows each child to grow and develop at their own pace. This is because every child's home back ground is different and every child grows differently. I agree the SATs system is inefficient in grading children's abilities and limited in the range of subjects that children may be experts at.

[Parentsoutloud]

Anything is more important than SATs let's listen to the teachers for a change and abolish SATs I believe they know best

[Scotty]

And more to the point - how do folks feel today about the Scottish Standard Grade, Higher and Advanced Higher results which are equally, if not more important than SATS.