A class struggle
THE boycott of school tests by both the National Association of Headteachers and the National Union of Teachers will do little to help those primary school pupils across Yorkshire where staff have chosen to take industrial action.
If the Sats tests are to work effectively, they need to be used to monitor a pupils' progress – and ensure that extra help and tuition is made available to those youngsters who are lagging behind their peers. The problem, however, is that Labour has used Sats as a mechanism to measure schools and LEAs rather than address the real flaw that these tests have identified: namely the number of pupils who are unable to command the most basic of skills when they complete their primary education.
This is the fundamental reason why there is a generation of under-achievers, and it has to change.