P1 TESTING SLAMMED AS ‘CRUEL SHAMBLES’
Teachers report pupils in tears and class time wasted
THE Scottish Government have been deluged by complaints about their “cruel” national testing for primary one pupils.
Pupils have been left in tears after tests branded “a shambles” by teachers.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie, who today publishes the complaints, urged Education Secretary John Swinney to spare the new intake of four and fiveyear-olds preparing for school.
He said: “Hundreds of complaints now show the chaos ministers inflicted on classrooms last year, at the expense of tens of thousands of children.
“The feedback from teachers is brutal. Testing P1s was clearly soul destroying and teachers report their classes and learning grinding to a halt for weeks.
“Making those starting primary one this month do national tests cannot be justified.”
Of those who emailed ministers directly, no professionals supported the continuation of the tests in their current form.
Teachers’ union the EIS handed over 172 pages of comments from teachers, broken down by council area.
One teacher in Aberdeen said she had “never seen such cruel nonsense in all of my life”, branding the tests “a shambles”.
A West Dunbartonshire teacher said: “One of my young, confident girls burst into tears.”
There were further complaints that the tests took up two to four weeks of vital teaching time.
The Scottish Government said: “We will continue to listen to the views of teachers and take action necessary to improve standards.”