Teachers' boycott is hailed as triumph by union chief

A LEADING union official who helped to oversee the highest level of schools boycotting this year's Standard Assessment Tests in Yorkshire has hailed the industrial action as a success as the Government was forced to publish incomplete league tables yesterday.

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The National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) joined forces this year to boycott the tests that saw more than 600 schools in Yorkshire refuse to administer them and more than 20,000 pupils across the region go untested.

The two unions mounted the action in protest over the impact the tests and league tables have on the teaching profession.

Organisers had planned to undermine the league tables which were published yesterday and put pressure on Ministers to scrap SATS altogether.

Calderdale had the highest level of primaries boycotting tests in Yorkshire with only 25 of the district's 81 schools taking part in the English and maths SATS.

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Sue McMahon, the Calderdale branch secretary of the NUT said; "The results being published are pointless. Especially in Calderdale where we had less than a third of schools doing the tests.

"We achieved this by the two unions working closely together.

"There were a lot of NAHT members who had never done anything like this before but we worked together to ensure as many schools as possible took part.

"There was a good mix of schools from across Calderdale which boycotted the SATS this year - it just goes to show the strength of feeling there is against the tests across the profession."

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She also hit out at the coalition Government's decision to introduce a new minimum benchmark for all primary schools. Ministers expect all primaries to get 60 per cent of pupils to reach level four in English and maths and keep up with the national average level of progress being made by pupils from the age of seven to 11. "It is just a tick box mentality which will do nothing to further the education of our children," she added.

The NUT's general secretary Christine Blower has also criticised the publishing of league table data by the Department for Education.

She said; "This is a snapshot picture which does not tell us the whole story about children's performance. Yet again, the case is made to end the demoralising naming and shaming process we have for assessing pupil progress. "League tables and constantly changing, pointless floor-targets need to go and be replaced by properly moderated teacher assessment". The NAHT is not taking part in a boycott of next year's SATS after Education Secretary Michael Gove agreed for an independent review of primary education to be carried out.

However NAHT national executive member and Leeds headteacher Stephen Watkins said he would want to resume the industrial action if the Government brands schools which fail to hit its new minimum target as "failing".