20th February 2014 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The education secretary has announced plans to introduce formal testing for four and five year old when they begin school. Arguing that testing should be standard procedure for new students and those leaving primary school, he said that it was the best way to monitor students’ progress. He also claimed that that it would better allow the government to monitor schools. Speaking on the Andrew Marr show, the education secretary said that children in their first year of school should be tested to assess their level of cognitive development.
The National Union of Teachers have rejected the proposals, saying that formal testing of children that young is “too much too soon”. The NUT emphasised that teachers already work with parents in order to get a full picture of student’s development, and did not need to subject children to potentially harmful testing to find out what they already know. The NUT also added that if the education secretary is serious about trusting the professionalism of teachers, it would be necessary for him to listen to the feedback he receives from them. Issuing a reminder that children in Finland who do not begin school until age 7 out-perform the majority of children in other countries, the NUT said that formal testing at such a young age was inappropriate and unnecessary.
The government has claimed that the tests would provide information which would help social justice policies. They have also rejected the idea that testing would be inappropriate and stressful for children, although the education secretary focussed on the information it would provide teachers and the government rather than the effects on children. The shadow education secretary responded to the plans to say that whilst teachers needed to be supported in tailoring their approaches for different children, heavy-handed formal testing was not the answer.