An abject assessment

HEARING the crowd loudly chanting, ‘Oh, Jeremy Corbyn’, a passer-by might be forgiven for thinking they’d inadvertently stumbled upon a gathering of Labour-worshipping idealistic students.

In fact, most singers were teachers at a union conference – fully paid-up members of the Left-wing education establishment known as ‘the Blob’.

The fount of their euphoria? Mr Corbyn had promised – if he seized power – to dismantle rigorous SATs tests for ten and 11-year-olds. They gave pupils ‘nightmares’, he insisted, and rendered teachers ‘overworked and overstressed’.

To the union reps, this is catnip. The militants loathe the assessments and have fought them tooth and nail. What they seem unable to fathom is that schools are meant to serve pupils, not teachers.

Entirely reasonably, SATs provide a snapshot of how children are faring in reading, writing and mathematics. If they struggle, and it is not spotted, they may never catch up – ruining their chances at secondary school and, later, at work.

The tests also highlight staff who are not doing their job – anathema to the unions.

We are the first to applaud the many superb teachers who strive to push up standards. But abolishing SATs would be a damaging step back to the past – a place Mr Corbyn and his archetypal class warriors belong.