Merseyside MPs to take year 6 SATs papers
The tests will be invigilated by year 6 pupils who will strictly enforce examination rules
Members of Parliament from around the UK will take their year 6 SATs papers at Westminster today.
The MPs will do the tests under the same exam conditions faced by 10 and 11-year-olds.
Parliamentarians will have their knowledge of English and Maths tested, including fronted adverbials and long division.
The tests will be invigilated by year 6 pupils from Surrey Square Primary School in London. The students will strictly enforce the rules of no talking, no calculators and no phones.
Campaign group, More Than A Score has invited the MPs to join the Big SATs Sit-In event.
The event encourages those taking part to try a 10 minute version of this year’s SATs papers and learn for themselves what’s ahead for year 6 pupils.
SATs (Standardised Assessment Tests) are given by primary schools in England to children in Year 2 and Year 6 to check their educational progress.
They are also one marker used by the government of the quality of the education at a school.
More Than A Score are conducting the Big SATs Sit-In event to shine a light on the upcoming tests.
The group say: ‘SATs and other government tests don’t help learning and cause unnecessary stress and pressure.’
In 2022, 41% of year 6 children were told they had not “reached the expected standard” before starting secondary school.
More Than A Score argues that: ‘being labelled a failure is the wrong way to begin secondary school and that spending most of year 6 cramming for SATs does not encourage a love of learning.’
The group carried out a study, alongside the National Association of Headteachers, earlier this year. The results showed just 3% of heads wanted SATs to continue.
Research also showed that 89% of parents said they would support an alternative to the tests.
Peter Middleman is from the National Education Union which represents 400,000 teachers.
He told us: “We have long held concerns about the impact of SATs on children's mental health. They do nothing to promote good learning.”
Confirmed Merseyside MPs taking part are Ian Byrne (Labour, Liverpool) and Margaret Greenwood (Labour, Wirral).
As well as MPs some parents will also be trying the papers for themselves in schools around the country including Brighton, Essex, London, Birmingham and Northwich in Cheshire.
Peter is interested to see the results of the Big SATs Sit-In.
He said: “We are part of the intendent commission on assessment in primary education and we support there findings, published only last month, which show that SATs in their current form are bad for children, bad for schools and bad for teachers.”
A survey by YouGov revealed 60% of year 6 pupils were worried about taking SATs in this year and 1 in 10 said they could not sleep because of the worry.
Labour MP Emma Hardy, is attending the event.
She said: “I feel it is important to do the SATs paper this year to put myself in the situation of a Year 6 pupil to experience the pressure they are under.
“It’s definitely time to review the way primary school children are assessed and primary schools are measured.
“Testing children under exam conditions in a narrow range of subjects doesn’t always support children’s learning, can often harm their wellbeing and isn’t the best way to give a full picture of how well a school is performing.”