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Press Release

NASUWT warns governors over response to SATs boycott

4 May 2010

The NASUWT the largest teachers' union has advised members that they should have nothing to do with alternative arrangements for testing in the light of some headteachers' plans to boycott the Key Stage 2 SATs.

Reports are being received from teachers that, in schools where the headteacher has decided to follow the action to the boycott the tests, they are being asked to:

• take responsibility for administering the 2010 tests;
• set previous years' SATs papers as 'top up tests' to replace this year’s SATs;
• provide assessment evidence in addition to that which would normally be required;
• undertake revised assessment procedures;
• mark internal tests that have been set to replace the SATs;
• mark or moderate the SATs papers from other schools;
• accept payment to mark SATs papers or replacement tests.

Reports are also emerging that some headteachers are planning to be ‘absent’ during the time the
SATs are scheduled to take place, leaving their deputy to cover for them and to make the decision
about the SATs going ahead.

These concerns have been raised directly with the NAHT and NUT.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union, said:

"It is unacceptable to take industrial action on the back of an expectation that the workload of staff not taking action will increase.

"It is equally unacceptable to pass the buck to others by planning a ‘diplomatic absence’ during the time the SATs are scheduled.

"This is not about the rights or wrongs of the action being taken. "The NASUWT respects the right of any union to make a decision, through a lawful ballot, to take industrial action.

"However, headteachers who decide to take action must do so on the basis that they accept the consequences of the SATs not going ahead.

"It is unethical to expect or instruct the staff they manage to plug the gap.

"Governing Bodies should be warned that where our members are asked or put under pressure to undertake additional work in the light of a headteacher boycotting the SATs, there is a real possibility of the school facing a formal dispute with the NASUWT."



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