UNION demands to scrap primary school exams have been rejected by ministers, The Sun can reveal.
A review of the national curriculum is set to conclude tomorrow that SATs and other tests have helped kids progress with their education.
AlamyBridget Phillipson will keep SATs exams in place[/caption]
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson will back the findings from Becky Francis and stick with the early English and maths assessments.
The report will cite the value of primary assessment in supporting children’s transition to secondary schools.
It risks a fresh row with the National Education Union which has been calling for SATs to be axed entirely.
Its hardline general secretary Daniel Kebede this year said the tests “do not benefit learning, and do a great deal to damage the potential for a broad and balanced curriculum”.
He said the “pressures of these high-stakes assessments” restrict classroom time for other subjects such as history.
The union’s opposition had sparked accusations they wanted to “dumb down” schools, with SATs exams having got harder under Tory administrations.
SATs are taken in English primary schools to monitor pupils’ English and maths progress. They are marked by teachers and nobody can fail.
Phonics are also tested in year 1, followed by multiplication tables in year 5.
Ms Francis’ interim report tomorrow will provide a “state of the nation” overview on the national curriculum.
Even as recently as last week Labour ministers refused to confirm the fate of SATs exams.
It comes amid a row over academy reforms in which Ms Phillipson has been accused of “kowtowing” to unions.
Sweeping curbs on academies’ freedoms will force them to follow national edicts on everything from curriculum, to staffing qualifications, to uniform standards.
In the latest bout of criticism, former independent Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman launched a scathing attack on the planned changes that have been long demanded by union leaders.
She accused Ms Phillipson of pandering to teacher unions who will “always defend the interests of the adults in schools over those of children”.
Ms Spielman urged the Education Secretary to pull the reforms in the Schools Bill “before the damage is done”.
Her intervention sparked a furious retaliation from Ms Phillipson’s allies who branded her tenure as Ofsted chief a “failure”.
Tory Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott warned kids would pay the price of Labour’s Bill.
She said: “So blinded by ideology and kowtowing to the demands of union bosses, the government’s plans are a wrecking ball for standards in schools.
“They will stop good schools from being able to grow, and leave pupils in failing schools for longer.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson will confirm SATs will stay in place Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
