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Forget Sats and focus on Covid recovery, say teachers

Forget Sats and focus on Covid recovery, say teachers

Teaching union to vote on motion calling on heads and governors to refuse to demand that teachers prepare for Sats

30th September 2020, 9:01am

Coronavirus: The Neu Teaching Union Could Be Set To Call On Heads & Governors To Refuse To Prepare For Sats In 2021 Because Of The Covid-19 Crisis

The largest teaching union could call on headteachers and governors to refuse to require that teachers prepare for Sats and instead concentrate on recovery from the Covid-19 disruption.

The plan is put forward in a motion to be heard at the NEU’s special conference on Saturday.

It also calls for moderated teacher assessment to replace Sats in 2021 and for it also to be introduced as part of a mixed model for GCSEs and A levels.

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The Department for Education said earlier this year that Sats would go ahead in 2021 despite calls for them to be scrapped because of Covid-19.

Sats ‘should be replaced with teacher assessment’

The NEU motion, which is in a conference agenda published today, says that the government’s response to the crisis shows that its policy-making is based on data and not pupils’ needs.

It says the union should: “Call on headteachers and governors to refuse to require preparation for Sats, instead concentrating all resources on recovery.”

It also calls on the NEU to campaign for the replacement of Sats in 2021 by a system of moderated teacher assessment.

And it instructs the union to call for a mixed model for GCSE and A levels for 2021 “including reduced content and moderated teacher assessment”.

The NEU is holding a special conference this weekend after its annual conference was cancelled earlier this year just before the country went into national lockdown because of the coronavirus.

The motion says: “The exams grading fiasco exposed the fragility of a qualifications system assessed solely through timed exams and revealed systemic faults in the awarding process. The government’s intention of restoring Sats and a largely unmodified examination system in 2021 will: prevent schools from meeting students’ needs, following the long period of closure, and further disadvantage social groups whose access to educational resources means that they will be less well prepared for statutory tests and examinations.”