School tests for 14-year-olds scrapped

The schools secretary has announced that he is scrapping SATs tests for 14-year-olds.

Ed Balls told MPs on Tuesday that the Key Stage 3 tests would no longer take place from next year.

Instead he promised that the tests would be replaced by continuous assessments during years seven, eight and nine of secondary school.

However Balls defended the use of externally-marked tests at Key Stage 2 for 11-year-olds, which he pledged would continue.

"To abolish those tests as some argue would be the wrong thing to do," he argued.

He added that it was too early to tell whether "stage not age" testing were working, although he reported encouraging evidence from pilot projects.

And he said the new programme would "properly focus in years seven and eight on those who did not meet the required standards at Key Stage 2".

Balls also said his "radical reforms" would include the introduction of US-style "school report cards" for all primary and secondary schools, to be produced in conjunction with the Ofsted watchdog and provide more clarity for parents.

These would include measures of the "wider development and wellbeing of children" as well as traditional test results.

Balls said the package would produce "better, more regular and more comprehensive information for parents about their child's progress".

Shadow schools secretary Michael Gove said he welcomed the "broad thrust" of the statement towards "fewer and more rigorous tests", while Liberal Democrat spokesman David Laws added that the plans were "long overdue".

"I welcome the government's complete U-turn," Laws said. "The SATs tests taken by 14-year-olds are not only a waste of time but have been highly unreliable over the last few years.

"This U-turn needs to be just the first move in restoring confidence in standards in English education and putting the needs of young people first instead of the current system of factory farming our children.

"Ed Balls needs to establish a genuinely independent Educational Standards Authority to sample pupil performance each year so that we really know what is happening to standards and that results are not being inflated by teaching to the test or the dumbing down of exams. 

"It is important to retain testing at 11 years so that parents have real information about results in primary schools and that the focus is on giving young people the key skills they need to thrive in secondary education."