Year 6 Children in UK have been suffering the start of SATS week today. These are children who, if you didn't already know, are only 10 or 11 years old.
I worry that this is just the start of a potentially dangerous situation.
There has already been quite a bit of controversy over other SATs tests, with a 'Kids' Strike' on May 3rd involving tens of thousands of children from Year 2 (age 6 - 7) whose parents pulled them out of school, deeming the tests too hard and unnecessary.
Even learned academics have not been able to agree about the right / wrong answers in the SATs tests, particular in the sample SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) tests, with groups of PhD qualified linguistics specialists disagreeing on the correct answers to a test designed for children.
I worry that this is just the start of a potentially dangerous situation.
There is an increasing issue with the mental health of children in modern day western' society and, whilst there are many factors which affect children, it seems clear that the mishandling of the education system is increasingly becoming an issue.
Today, reports are coming in thick and fast from heartbroken teachers and parents about the effects of today's reading test on 10 and 11 year old children.
Remember...we are talking about CHILDREN.
Classes full of children have not been able to finish the paper, with one school that describes itself as a "good" school (no doubt via their OfSted rating), finding itself in a situation where only 2 out 28 children could finish the test.
Other teachers are reporting children sobbing, shaking and even vomiting, such is their reaction to the stress and confusion caused by these ridiculously hard tests.
David Cameron recently announced that mental health services would be improved by his government. What do I have to say to that? They'll need to be improved, as a whole generation of children are having their love of school, of learning and precious self-esteem SHATTERED by these tests. The knock-on effects of their mental health is very worrying.
The tests are too hard.
I worry that they are designed to cause failure as part of the government's drive to force schools to become academies. The Secretary of State for Education, the 'Wrong' Hon Nicky Morgan MP, has announced that schools and local authorities which underperform in these SATs will be forced to become academies.
This comes just days after a a U-Turn on the White Paper which was to force ALL schools to become academies by 2022, no matter their circumstance or level of success, good or bad.
It seems this government has played a long game, covering its bases, by implementing tests which will guarantee what it wants - schools failing so that academy status can be spun as their saviour.
Once this occurs how long will it be until, like private schools, academies are given permission to ditch the SATs entirely, leaving just those schools left in Local Authority control at the mercy of these abhorrent tests.
What next?
Will the tests will become even more "challenging" to create further failure and further "opportunities" for these schools to become academies, in a self fulfilling spiral of failure and political spin-doctoring?
Lest we forget, the losers in this situation are the CHILDREN.
It is these children who will be left, not through any fault of their own, with a shattering feeling of failure.
These children have not failed.
The education system has failed them. The DfE has failed them. The government has failed them.
The consequences? A generation whose mental health, education and future may have been irreparably jeopardised.
Today, reports are coming in thick and fast from heartbroken teachers and parents about the effects of today's reading test on 10 and 11 year old children.
Remember...we are talking about CHILDREN.
Classes full of children have not been able to finish the paper, with one school that describes itself as a "good" school (no doubt via their OfSted rating), finding itself in a situation where only 2 out 28 children could finish the test.
Other teachers are reporting children sobbing, shaking and even vomiting, such is their reaction to the stress and confusion caused by these ridiculously hard tests.
David Cameron recently announced that mental health services would be improved by his government. What do I have to say to that? They'll need to be improved, as a whole generation of children are having their love of school, of learning and precious self-esteem SHATTERED by these tests. The knock-on effects of their mental health is very worrying.
The tests are too hard.
I worry that they are designed to cause failure as part of the government's drive to force schools to become academies. The Secretary of State for Education, the 'Wrong' Hon Nicky Morgan MP, has announced that schools and local authorities which underperform in these SATs will be forced to become academies.
This comes just days after a a U-Turn on the White Paper which was to force ALL schools to become academies by 2022, no matter their circumstance or level of success, good or bad.
It seems this government has played a long game, covering its bases, by implementing tests which will guarantee what it wants - schools failing so that academy status can be spun as their saviour.
Once this occurs how long will it be until, like private schools, academies are given permission to ditch the SATs entirely, leaving just those schools left in Local Authority control at the mercy of these abhorrent tests.
What next?
Will the tests will become even more "challenging" to create further failure and further "opportunities" for these schools to become academies, in a self fulfilling spiral of failure and political spin-doctoring?
Lest we forget, the losers in this situation are the CHILDREN.
It is these children who will be left, not through any fault of their own, with a shattering feeling of failure.
These children have not failed.
The education system has failed them. The DfE has failed them. The government has failed them.
The consequences? A generation whose mental health, education and future may have been irreparably jeopardised.
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