Half of all primary pupils and a third of parents suffer stress and anxiety over school tests, study reveals
- High stress in both pupils and their parents have been detected in a new study
- Researchers found most parents want to scrap the SAT examinations
- Ofsted Chief Inspector reported ‘over-reliance on performance data’ by schools
Half of all pupils and a third of parents suffer stress and anxiety over school tests, according to a new survey.
Researchers found that most parents want to scrap the Standard Attainment Tests (SATs), which are taken by seven and 11 year-olds.
It comes after Amanda Spielman, chief inspector of schools watchdog Ofsted, reported an ‘over-reliance on performance data’ among schools which are ‘teaching to the test’ to boost their position in league tables.
Half of all pupils and a third of parents suffer stress and anxiety over school tests, according to a new survey
The campaign group Let Our Kids Be Kids polled more than 1,200 parents and discovered that SATs increased mental health issues.
One parent said: ‘They add stress to the children, the teachers and parents.’
Helen Symonds, from Let Our Kids Be Kids, which has called for boycotts of the tests, said: ‘SATs serve no purpose to our children. They create unreliable results feeding a government accountability tool.’
But an Education Department spokesman said that SATs helped officials understand how well schools were supporting children.
Amanda Spielman, chief inspector of schools watchdog Ofsted, reported an ‘over-reliance on performance data’ by schools