Closer Than You Think - 2 "Testing Times"

by Laura Capellaro


Parents in my daughter’s 2nd-year class at school were called in last week to meet their new teachers. We thought it might be the time when volunteers for the Christmas fair were called for, or nominations for School Governor read out, or yet another round of monetary requests were made. But no. This was the time when the SATs were first discussed with us.

‘Whatever you do,’ said her teacher conspiratorially, ‘don’t talk to your children about these as exams. In fact, don’t mention them at all. We prefer to try and keep them secret from the children at this stage, so that they don’t realise they are being tested. We don’t move them out into the sports hall when the time comes, for example. The testing will be done quietly, as much as possible as part of the child’s normal day, under so-called “classroom” conditions.’

Well, that’s a relief, I thought. The popular press is currently full of sensationalistic reports of 7 year-olds suddenly waking up in the night or puking at the school gates, paralysed with terror at the thought of having to sit exams. There is a now a growing campaign called “Stop the SATs”, launched in June of this year. It is an amalgam of parents and teachers working together to lobby the national government for a revision - or, preferably, a scrapping - of national testing for 7 , 11 and 14 year-olds in this country. Their argument is simple - even simplistic. Testing does not help the children to learn, and it does not help the teachers to teach. Many parents and teachers are united in their concern that the testing causes undue stress for children, and makes the schooling experience a negative one.

Teachers have additional cause for concern. SATs results reflect upon an individual teacher’s ability to do what it is they are paid to do - teach. The campaign to scrap the SATs is being led by the National Union of Teachers, the main teaching trade union. Obviously they would want to get rid of any measures that make their members appear in a bad light. It is in their interests to use their position to whip both parents and - more frighteningly - children, into a panic about the process of testing. Surely if less fuss were made about the tests, people would not pressure their children as much. Extra-curricular tutoring clubs are cashing in gleefully on parent’s concerns, and attendance is eating into children‘s precious free time. Time when children should be winding down, digesting what they have already learnt, or simply playing. Hey - remember that? Playing?

The parents and teachers in the Campaign Against SATs are just as much to blame for children suffering sleepless nights and stomach complaints as they claim the Government has been by introducing the testing in the first place. Where else would children get this notion of hysteria from, if not from their teachers and their parents?

The SAT results are also used to compile league tables of schools so that parents can make a better-informed comparison between local schools - particularly useful in today’s transitory society where families are moving house and school far more often than, say 20 years ago. SAT results give freedom of choice, and ensure that schools that do well are recognised (and hopefully their techniques copied elsewhere) and that failing schools are identified so that measures can be introduced to help.

As with anything to do with education and central Government, there is a flip-side, however. The Government has imposed a ruling whereby a school’s yearly money is cut if its attendance figures drop. But schools that perform badly in the SAT League Tables may suffer a dropping-off of numbers for that very reason. If they are then faced with having to cut numbers of staff and purchasing of equipment, surely this will only compound the problem?

So what else can be done to help our children? Studies conducted as long ago as 1968 consistently show that for children to do well at school - any school - parental involvement is crucial. The UK Charity, Campaign for Learning, was created in November 1997 with the sole purpose of championing the cause for lifelong learning. Recently they have highlighted research that shows the enormous value of parental involvement on the educational achievement of the child - particularly at primary level. The degree of help and support a child receives at home from his or her parents has an even greater effect on their achievement than social background or choice of school.

A study by Professor Charles Desforges has shown that where parents get actively interested and involved in with their children’s education at home, one sees "a significant positive effect on children's achievement, even after all other factors have been taken out of the equation".

So, maybe it is the parents who could do with a little out-of-school learning. Many in my generation and even immediate circle of friends do not feel confident about the idea of “learning” with their children. Perhaps they have suffered a negative experience in their own school days, which has put them off. But learning at home could mean anything - sitting down with a family photograph album and talking together about the pictures and what they show rather than a half-hour on the PlayStation, or a trip to the local museum rather than McDonalds, or to the library for Story Time rather than another cartoon on the TV. Many families feel daunted by the prospect of trying out such activities together.

As the government struggles to hit some of its key test and exam targets, there is one obvious way they could do more to boost standards: target the parents, not just the schools.