1. Building the Ballot against SAT’s
Parent Power
Y2 SATs Boycott
2019

2. Breaking the political silence
For nearly 30 years the main political parties agreed: the SATs-based system of primary assessment was necessary. Without it, educational standards would not rise.
In 2019, this consensus has been broken. At NEU Conference Layla Moran and Jeremy Corbyn signalled that their parties were committed to the abolition of SATs, and of baseline assessment.
This is a major shift in policy thinking: teachers must throw their weight behind it, to make sure it becomes a reality.
Breaking the political silence

3. High-stakes testing – exemplified by SATs – distorts the work of schools.
It narrows the curriculum, increases stress on pupils and adds unprofitably to teachers’ workload.
The case against SATs

4. ‘In every single instance in which high-stakes accountability systems have been implemented … adverse unintended consequences have significantly reduced, and in many cases have completely negated, the positive benefits.’
Dylan Wiliam, one of the world’s leading experts on assessment, 2011
What researchers say

5. What other governments say
The evidence of the effects of ‘high stakes’ use of assessment information is accepted internationally. … Rather than being about the learner and guiding teaching and support to enable them to fulfil their potential, learner assessment has become something which is seen to reflect on the performance of teachers and schools.’
Welsh Government 2019
What other governments say

6. What teachers say, time after time (1)
In 2018:
Over 90% of NEU members surveyed thought that the SATs adversely affected pupils’ well-being:
‘We've had children crying, making themselves ill and refusing to come to school - even labelling themselves failures - because of these tests.’
‘I have seen many pupils in year 2 crying and anxious during the tests and making comments like "I can't read" and "I'm stupid"’
‘The curriculum is narrow, dominated by English and Maths, and with other topics normally off timetable, especially from Christmas onwards.’
‘We have been subject to huge pressures to narrow the curriculum and to replace deep conceptual learning with temporary memorisation of facts and procedures in order to boost SATs results.’
‘SATs are the biggest barrier that we have to high quality and relevant learning.’
What teachers say, time after time (1)

7. Heads and school leaders
In a YouGov survey (March 2019), an overwhelming majority of primary school leaders (93%) supported the view that that the government should review the current system of standardised assessment. The same number believed that policy is decided without sufficient consultation with heads or other experts, while 87% thought that politicians don’t listen to the views of headteachers when making education policy.

8. 78% agreed that KS1 and KS2 SATs should be abolished.
81% agreed that league tables should be abolished.
This is encouraging, from the Union’s point of view – but there are still issues to be addressed.
The latest survey of NEU primary members (29th April, after the statements of Moran and Corbyn)

9. “I would be very dubious about anyone saying that they are going to do away with them. They will bring them back in some other way that’s exactly same or, usually, worse!”
“I doubt they will abolish them. If they do there wont be any guidance at all so it will be the blind leading the blind. The government should be more organised before they make any changes.”
“I think schools need to be accountable somehow but not sure the best way for this to be monitored.”
What alternative?

10. There are alternatives
No-one is suggesting that teachers stop assessing pupils.
But we must stop assessing them in ways that do not support their learning, that risk harming their well-being and that do not provide primary and secondary teachers with useful information.
In Finland, schools manage very well without external tests: they conduct self-evaluations as part of their responsibilities. Beyond Finland, there is a wealth of work that sets out alternatives to SATs. It focuses on 3 kinds of assessment:
• formative assessment by teachers
• occasional use at the teachers’ discretion of summative tests taken from a national text bank, to confirm teachers’ judgments
• sampling – as with the international PISA tests a small proportion of learners would be tested, in order to evaluate trends in the school system as a whole.
There are alternatives

11. It is around these ideas that the Union is working on alternatives, in discussion with political parties and researchers.
Some teachers are concerned that moving away from SATs would increase their workload: they might be involved in continuous assessment against the kinds of detailed checklists that have been developed by government for – e.g. – the assessment of writing.
The NEU would strongly oppose such an approach. Assessment must be based on teachers’ capacity for confident and trustworthy professional judgment, not on complying with a set of tickboxes.
We are winning this argument.
Alternatives (2)