TEACHERS TO CALL FOR BALLOT ON BOYCOTTING BASELINE TESTS FOR FOUR-YEAR-OLDS

Teachers will call for a ballot on boycotting baseline tests for four-year-olds when they meet for their annual conference next weekend.

New tests from this September will make children in England “among the most tested in Europe”, the National Union of Teachers’ annual conference in Brighton will be told.

The baseline tests are designed to inform teachers about the abilities of pupils starting school. They will also be used to rank primary schools in league tables by showing how much, or how little, children’s performance has improved.

A motion before the conference says: “The formal testing of children at primary school is about school and teacher accountability and has very little to do with the children being tested.”

It adds: “Testing ... narrows the curriculum and limits the educational experience for pupils.”

This autumn’s baseline tests are one of three new tests for primary schools. Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, has also announced the return of national curriculum tests for seven-year-olds. 

These were abandoned under Labour because it was thought that seven was too young an age for children to undergo a formal externally marked test. Last week’s White Paper on the future of education also held out the prospect of times tables tests for pupils aged 11, in their last year of primary schooling.

In addition, children undergo a controversial phonics test at the age of six to check their reading skills. This test has been ridiculed by teachers for including made-up words. There are also the national curriculum tests in reading, writing and mathematics for 11-year-olds.

Next weekend’s conference will hear calls for a formal ballot on boycotting the baseline tests – with union leaders being urged to follow that up with a ballot on boycotting all other primary school tests this year.

Teachers will argue that the testing regime in schools is partly responsible for an “alarming” rise in the number of children and young people suffering from mental health issues.

Any call for a boycott of the baseline tests this autumn is likely to receive overwhelming support at the conference. 

However, moves to boycott the rest of the testing regime in primary schools are likely to have to wait until next year as, in particular, the tests for 11-year-olds will only be a month away by the time the vote is taken.