Teachers in tests protest

PROTEST . . . Tony Harrison, joint branch secretary of Oldham NUT watches on as shoppers queue to sign the petition

LOCAL teachers hit the high street to drum up support for their campaign to scrap SATs in primary schools.

Members of Oldham National Union of Teachers were in the town centre to urge parents to sign their petition.

The petition which demands that the Government follows the lead of Scotland and Wales in abolishing the tests which the union believes puts far too much stress on young children.
The NUT supports the decision of the government to abolish tests for 14-year-olds but now also wants the tests for younger children to be scrapped.

Tony Harrison, joint branch secretary of Oldham NUT said “While the Government made the right decision in freeing 14-year-olds from the negative testing regime, we believe that it is even more important to scrap the tests for children of primary school age.

“Primary education should be about exciting learning and exploration.

“Teaching to the tests stifles creativity and blights the educational experience of our children.”

The union has campaigned for several years to have the tests abolished and believes it has the support of parents who see the damage and stress caused to young people by the tests.

Mr Harrison added: “I always knew that parents and other stakeholders in schools would support us but even I was surprised at the response.

“We were collecting signatures at the rate of one every 30 seconds.

“Shoppers were stopping to tell us their own horror stories of the effects that testing were having on youngsters. We are even more convinced than ever that the support for our campaign is massive and growing daily. I am confident that the campaign will be a success and in the very near future our teachers will be freed to teach constructively and our children will be free to learn in an exciting manner.”