Thousands back P1 test opt-out campaign
● Children’s charity and teaching union encourage parents to take action
A children’s charity has been “flooded” with calls from parents wanting to take part in its “postcard” campaign letting headteachers know they do not want their child to sit controversial P1 tests.
Upstart Scotland, the children’s education charity, launched the campaign at the start of the new school year, with the support of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) teaching union and a host of children’s charities.
Around 30,000 postcards have been sent to key allies for dispersal. An email version is also available on the charity’s Play Not Tests website.
The aim is to encourage parents to withdraw their youngsters from the literacy and numeracy assessments launched last year by the Scottish Government.
The postcard states: “I do not want my child ... to sit the Primary 1 SNSA tests of literacy or numeracy. I firmly believe that national standardised assessment of this kind is not developmentally appropriate for young children and would, therefore, prefer assessment to be based on teacher observation and professional judgement, in accordance with the Early Level of the Curriculum for Excellence.”
Sue Palmer, the charity’s chairwoman and a former headteacher, said they had been inundated with calls and emails from parents.
“It shows the strength of feeling out there that parents are deciding to take action. Noone has been listening to those who work with very small children, especially nursery teachers, but they are the ones with the specialist knowledge of children’s ability.”
Last week teachers said many young children had been left distressed coping with the pressures of the tests.
Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS, said: “We are sceptical about the worth of standardised assessments generally, but we’re particularly opposed to their introduction for P1 pupils.
“They bring a rigid formality to assessment at a stage where the judgments of teachers, based on observation of childcentred learning, are all that’s needed.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie, MSP, whose party highlighted that the Government had not publicised the right of parents to withdraw their children from the tests, said: “This campaign is the product of an unprecedented effort on the part of campaigners, parents and teachers to bring these damaging national tests to an end.
“It should never have been left to others to tell parents their rights and how to exercise them.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The assessments are part of everyday learning and teaching. As has been the case for decades, for almost all teaching and learning there is no formal legal right for parents to withdraw their child from individual elements of that teaching and learning.
“However, as the Scottish Government has always maintained, if a parent did not wish their child to take part in an aspect of teaching and learning, they should discuss this with the school who have the discretion available to them to decide whether the child then takes part in any given activity.”