Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
TALKING POLITICS SNP must listen to parents and teachers over testing
For my latest Advertiser column I thought I would discuss the Scottish Parliament’s vote to scrap the harsh, and unnecessary, testing of children in Primary One classes.
This vote in Parliament arose after evidence from teachers reported that these tests are leaving five-year-olds “shaking and crying”.
One head teacher reported that the tests “betrayed relationships and harmed them with our children, particularly our most vulnerable”.
In some cases, teachers have highlighted that the P1 tests are beyond the level of their children.
One teacher said: “In literacy, the texts they are expected to read on their own are way beyond anything we would expect at that stage.”
Another response said: “One school chose not to do P1 tests since the children were not ready for it and didn’t have capacity to do it.”
The chair of campaign group Upstart Scotland, Sue Palmer, criticised the use of assessments for young children – highlighting the SNP’s isolation on this issue.
This evidence from the teaching profession resulted in cross-party consensus in the Scottish Parliament to vote against the SNP to have these tests scrapped.
The Scottish Conservatives want the SNP’s standardised assessment of P1 pupils to end, in light of the evidence from teachers, opposition from parents and to respect the will of the Scottish Parliament.
I firmly believe that there must be a different approach to standardised assessment in P1 compared to what happens further on in school.
It is time the SNP listened to parents and teachers, and scrapped these harsh and unnecessary tests immediately.
This issue is further evidence of the SNP failing Scotland’s education system and our children.
The SNP have abandoned their education bill, despite calling it their flagship piece of legislation.
Nicola Sturgeon had said that: “A new education bill will deliver the biggest and most radical change to how our schools are run that we have seen in the lifetime of devolution.”
However, she has now refused to introduce this bill, and the new reforms planned are far more minor than originally promised.
This is not the support that Scotland’s education requires after years of neglect.
Total teacher numbers are down 3587 since 2007 under the SNP; and in 2007 there were 55,100, and now in 2017 there are 51,513.
This has resulted in opinions of local schools being at record lows.
The percentage of people who are very or fairly satisfied with the quality of local schools has plummeted from a peak of 85 per cent in 2011 to just 70 per cent in 2017.
We must stand up for Scotland’s teachers and pupils to ensure that they have the support they require.
The SNP must get back to the day job, instead of focusing on political gimmicks.
We must stand up for Scotland’s teachers and pupils to ensure that they have the support they require