Commenting on the end of key stage testresults, Doug McAvoy, NUT General Secretary, said:
The mind numbing annual ritual ofpublication of the National Curriculum test results provides little informationon the educational achievement of our children. Real achievement by schools andlocal education authorities are obscured by pointless debates over whetherarbitrary Government targets have been achieved.
It was inevitable that a plateau would bereached and that improvement in test results would not continue forever. TheGovernment should have recognised that reality before it plucked its targetsout of the sky and imposed them on schools.
Publication of the test results is part ofa tired and pernicious system of targets, tests and performance tables whichunder-values the achievements of young people, undermines the curriculum andcreates stress for both and pupils and teachers.
Parents and teachers are better informedof pupils strengths and weaknesses by teacher assessment. That assessmentprovides valuable information rather than a simple label that tells no one verymuch.
It is high time the Government clearedaway the damaging machinery of performance tables it inherited from theConservatives and invested in assessment of pupils achievement which supportsrather than damages learning.
E N D Pr.60/03
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