SATs a perspective…

I know this will probably annoy some people, I know that this will cheese some people off. 

Let’s get this straight, I’m not a big fan of the SATs or the overload of primary testing full-stop. I think some of them are poorly designed and don’t test the thing they aim to test very well. If I am honest there are probably four tests which do a reasonable job of testing the thing they aim to assess. 

1)The Phonics Check, checks pretty well whether children know their sounds and can blend. It however gives us not a clue about whether they can really read. 

2)The Multiplication check will give us a reasonable idea of whether children know their timestables and can recall quickly, especially once they get used to the input method. 

3)The Grammar and punctuation test does a pretty good job of testing pupils knowledge of the complexities of English grammar at that age. Whether children need to know all that stuff or whether it has any impact on writing is a wholly different conversation.

4)The Maths arithmetic paper gives us a reasonable picture of how children understand and approach a range of maths linked to the four operations.

The rest of the tests to varying degrees are pretty poor measures. Maths reasoning papers are often more about English and interpreting question than the Maths that sits at the core.

The Reading test is a pretty poor measure of reading IMO.

Getting up this morning and seeing SATs all over the news and in-particular the admittedly difficult Reading test I was angry. My anger however was not it seems for the same reason as everyone else. There was anger on the telly that some children who were expected to do well had left the test crying because they hadn’t finished the test. My first thought went to the children who we know are below the expected standard some of them who are SEND, yet they sit through this same test knowing that they probably won’t get to the fictitious imaginary line.

How are we OK with our weakest students taking these “difficult” tests but the moment the “high achievers” can’t do it we start shouting and waving placards?

I also am really bothered that we are building these tests up so much that when something goes wrong children are breaking down in tears. That doesn’t happen unless there is either pressure from home or school in my opinion. That pressure can be for a range of reasons, but children only pick up on it if we make them something beyond what they should be and whether we like it or not if children leave the test  crying we have played a part in that. 

Do I think SATs are good measure of time in primary, definitely not. Making a judgement about a child based on that hour on that day is a frankly poor way of summing up six years in a child’s life. 

Should the data be used in the way it is to vilify schools and compare them against each other without context…again definitely not.

These tests aren’t formative, they don’t guide children’s next steps as the DfE claimed today, their sole purpose is as a measure for primary schools and a stick to beat secondary schools with. This whether we like it or not is a big element of how and why sometimes that pressure is driven down. Surely if this all they are actually for then we have to question their actual value.

Having said that I do believe however that we have to have a responsible attitude towards them. Sadly some hothouse pupils, personally we don’t really talk SATs till February half-term and we don’t properly prep children till after Easter. We encourage children to do their best and be proud of that best whatever that looks like. I know as I look at the children eating ice-cream and playing games that I couldn’t be prouder of them. No tears, no drama. Just children who did their best.