Sats stands for Standardised Assessment Tests. Officially, that is. But one headteacher at a conference last week renamed them Senseless Activities for Traumatised Students. Other heads expressed their anger and loathing towards the compulsory tests for seven, 11 and 14-year-olds. Last month, one teachers' trade union voted for a mass boycott of Sats.
What do young people think? Teachers often express their opposition to Sats as concern for students. They say children and young people are unfairly stressed by the continual testing. But aren't they more bothered about their own workload? Isn't their real concern fear of publicity about how well a school is doing? If pupils are being traumatised, isn't that because teachers are communicating their own stress to them?
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