Comments on: Education reform: scrapping science Sats – good or bad? http://www.learnedfool.com/education-reform-scrapping-science-sats-good-or-bad Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:27:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: rob http://www.learnedfool.com/education-reform-scrapping-science-sats-good-or-bad#comment-3637 rob Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:43:48 +0000 http://www.learnedfool.com/?p=420#comment-3637 May I make some observations about secondary school?- the following will come as a suprise to parents.. especially given the hyperboyle about how damaging SATs supposedly are.. there are 38 weeks in a school year. eng/math/sci is 3 hours per week per subject so 9 hours per week roughly on core subjects. (call it 10 to incude HW tasks) sats cover all of ks3 which is y7, 8 & 9. because sats are done early may its 126 weeks in total. 10 x 126 = 1260 hours of learning.............. guess how many hours SATs took up? ..................... 6 hours .............. honestly. 2 for each core subject. a measly 6 hours. I cant imagine what the fuss was about. I was around before and after sats were introduced in varying types of schools. I think it pushed up standards- convinced in fact. sure, in march of year 9 the kids do some mock papers and teachers remind kids to start revising---whats wrong with that? I saw no evidence of narrowing of the curricilum- the sats covers the whole compulsory curriculum anyway!! kids need something to aim for and there should be accountability to parents and before anyone talks about APP or TA. I agree primaries coached their kids for the exams... so why wont they 'cheat' with TA or APP? I'd love to hear the answer to that one... May I make some observations about secondary school?- the following will come as a suprise to parents.. especially given the hyperboyle about how damaging SATs supposedly are..

there are 38 weeks in a school year. eng/math/sci is 3 hours per week per subject so 9 hours per week roughly on core subjects. (call it 10 to incude HW tasks)

sats cover all of ks3 which is y7, 8 & 9. because sats are done early may its 126 weeks in total.

10 x 126 = 1260 hours of learning………….. guess how many hours SATs took up?

………………… 6 hours ………….. honestly. 2 for each core subject. a measly 6 hours.

I cant imagine what the fuss was about. I was around before and after sats were introduced in varying types of schools. I think it pushed up standards- convinced in fact.

sure, in march of year 9 the kids do some mock papers and teachers remind kids to start revising—whats wrong with that? I saw no evidence of narrowing of the curricilum- the sats covers the whole compulsory curriculum anyway!! kids need something to aim for and there should be accountability to parents

and before anyone talks about APP or TA. I agree primaries coached their kids for the exams… so why wont they ‘cheat’ with TA or APP? I’d love to hear the answer to that one…

]]> By: Fool http://www.learnedfool.com/education-reform-scrapping-science-sats-good-or-bad#comment-1804 Fool Fri, 29 May 2009 08:14:14 +0000 http://www.learnedfool.com/?p=420#comment-1804 Thank you. That was very informative. And you're right, the school our kids go to do not have the testing that your school does. And, the published results of their test scores show that they have performed very well in the recent past. I don't believe that teaching should be geared just to pass the exams, but why do some schools perform well, so are not pressured to focus on exams? The problem to address is the low performance. What can we do to improve education? I don't think scrapping exams is the answer, but perhaps relying solely on its results to grade a school should be abolished. Why are some school under-performing? Is it the student population? For example, high percentage of students who speak English as a second language, have specials needs, or other educational barriers. We cannot get rid of exams altogether because as students progress to higher education, exam scores will be one determinant for the schools to select their candidates. Far be it from me to suggest going to the US style of education, because we've always considered ourselves less educated than Britons, but it does sound like a far simpler system. Thank you. That was very informative. And you’re right, the school our kids go to do not have the testing that your school does. And, the published results of their test scores show that they have performed very well in the recent past. I don’t believe that teaching should be geared just to pass the exams, but why do some schools perform well, so are not pressured to focus on exams? The problem to address is the low performance. What can we do to improve education? I don’t think scrapping exams is the answer, but perhaps relying solely on its results to grade a school should be abolished. Why are some school under-performing? Is it the student population? For example, high percentage of students who speak English as a second language, have specials needs, or other educational barriers. We cannot get rid of exams altogether because as students progress to higher education, exam scores will be one determinant for the schools to select their candidates. Far be it from me to suggest going to the US style of education, because we’ve always considered ourselves less educated than Britons, but it does sound like a far simpler system.

]]> By: debbie stott http://www.learnedfool.com/education-reform-scrapping-science-sats-good-or-bad#comment-1786 debbie stott Thu, 28 May 2009 21:20:17 +0000 http://www.learnedfool.com/?p=420#comment-1786 Obviously you have not been to the primary school that I teach in in London where pupils in Year 6 have been learning only Maths , Science and English since January up to the Sats , mid May, with half an hour of RE/PSHE, 1 hour PE ( gov recommend 2 hours per week ) and 1 hour ICT. During this period the pupils were denied any Music, Art, History, Geography or DT and recieved very limited RE and PSHE . This reduced curriculum is because our school is worried that our Yr 6 pupils will not get the required number of level 4's lneeded to gain a decent place in the league tables and other school performance tables . As for testing, I have worked out that a child attending our school from Reception to Yr 6 will have sat at least 60 tests!This is not spelling and times table tests but 45 min written tests where pupils are sat in tlwos and not allowed to talk until the last paper has been collected . THis starts with 6/7 in Year 2 Sats but then continues 3 times a year from then on until Yr 6 Sats. Maybe the school that your children attend is not under any pressure to perform but in the present system any school that is low in the league tables or low compared to the other schools in their cluster group is under enormous pressure to get the right results ! The reason teachers are saying that getting rid of only Science tests will mean a narrower curriculum is because schools will focus only on Maths and English now as opposed to Science, Maths and English as at present. Whilst any test remains a marker on school performance schools will focus on achievement only in that area. Obviously you have not been to the primary school that I teach in in London where pupils in Year 6 have been learning only Maths , Science and English since January up to the Sats , mid May, with half an hour of RE/PSHE, 1 hour PE ( gov recommend 2 hours per week ) and 1 hour ICT. During this period the pupils were denied any Music, Art, History, Geography or DT and recieved very limited RE and PSHE . This reduced curriculum is because our school is worried that our Yr 6 pupils will not get the required number of level 4′s lneeded to gain a decent place in the league tables and other school performance tables . As for testing, I have worked out that a child attending our school from Reception to Yr 6 will have sat at least 60 tests!This is not spelling and times table tests but 45 min written tests where pupils are sat in tlwos and not allowed to talk until the last paper has been collected . THis starts with 6/7 in Year 2 Sats but then continues 3 times a year from then on until Yr 6 Sats. Maybe the school that your children attend is not under any pressure to perform but in the present system any school that is low in the league tables or low compared to the other schools in their cluster group is under enormous pressure to get the right results !
The reason teachers are saying that getting rid of only Science tests will mean a narrower curriculum is because schools will focus only on Maths and English now as opposed to Science, Maths and English as at present. Whilst any test remains a marker on school performance schools will focus on achievement only in that area.

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