Why don't todays teachers like tests for kids?

It's more because they really see the tests are more about the ability of  the teachers mecca.This profession has complete negativity about itself and it is no wonder they heckled the Minister of Education at their own conference,showing themselves up.

Because the kids would show them up & put them to shame.

IMO

its more because the results are way too important and time
is wasted getting kids to the standard by being able to do the test
instead of teaching them proper stuff.

those kids already at standard are neglected too, whilst the lesser able
are brought up to speed



no harm in tests but ffs make use of the results to improve the system
dont wreck the system to get results

Much like the current NHS, Donny.

Too much management without fixing things.

Have you heard of Handedness?

Heard it on the radio this morning - brilliant stuff ... I'll find a link ..............

Very educational!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06vkbww

1/2 Million people in Scotland are discriminated against every single day. You cannot tell how by their gender, their skin colour or their religion. But watch them write their name or use a pair of scissors and you will see that they are left handed.

Pennie Latin explores what makes us right or left handed and how our handedness affects who we are as individuals.

In the past those who were not right handed were feared or shunned and many people today will still remember being forcibly retrained to use their right hand. So to find out how handedness controls how we do almost everything, BBC Radio Scotland along with Abertay University set up a "handedness lab" to test how competent we are at some very simple tasks with our non-dominant hand.

Simple tasks are one thing. But what if, for example, you are a left handed pianist who would much prefer to play the more dexterous parts of the music with your dominant hand? Pennie, a right handed piano player, meets Christopher Seed, a left handed piano player to play the worlds very first left handed piano.

Whichever side you fall, left or right handed, this episode of Brainwaves will affect every single one of us.

some teachers will always be against tests for various reasons. Some don't like the accountability aspect of them, others are against them on principal, there is also the way they skew teacher time towards interventions for those on borderlines. Personally I think fair assessments at 7 and 11 are a valid way of gauging progress.

The problem with this years SATS for 7 and 11 year olds is the terrible way the government has communicated the changes. For example it was only in february they released standards for writing and then had to send out a document clarifying the changes.

The tests have increased in difficulty and the sample grammar test is very challenging much more difficult than the previous test. Another issue is the government haven't said what the pass thresholds will be and wont until after the tests - this has created great uncertainty for schools and children.

The new sats also see a movement away from the old levels of assessment to a new model of passing a threshold something that no one seems to know exactly what it is.

There will always be some teachers against tests and government initiatives but the way the dfe has handled this has led to many moderate and sympathetic teachers becoming confused and frustrated.

Every child is a genius and every teacher is top notch.
They don't need exams.

did not test my vision till i was ten. ten wasted years. thank you teachers and parents. not all sherlock holmes'

i'm not sure any teacher is opposed to testing.

however problems arise when it is used as the sole measure of a teacher's performance, particularly on a year by year basis.

first and foremost not all year groups are as able as each other. Taking a class average from a D+ to a B- requires a great deal more effort and teaching than taking a class average from a C+ to a B. But if you are judged on test results alone, this will not be recognised. If your head has made commitments to improve results every year you inevitably reach a point where it becomes impossible to achieve this.

Secondly, teaching people to pass a test or exam is not the same thing as teaching someone a subject. Children are largely taught how to pass exams these days with absolutely incredible levels of transparency on marking and how questions are derived from the syllabus in addition to many exams containing higher levels of coursework and the subject broken down into modules. This is the main reason teenagers can now take 6 A-levels and get 6 A*s. There is simply less to remember at any one time, because you are instructed very precisely in what you need to know, what you will be asked and how you need to answer.

40 years ago you were taught a subject for two years and presented with an exam paper to complete.

As I recall,when  I were a lad in the 50's and 60's, we were tested at the end of every year beginning in primary school. Formal exams came at 11 and 16 but there wasn't a year when we didn't sit our own tests for the benefit of the teachers' own understanding about what we had learned.

@trilby22 -- In the past those who were not right handed were feared or shunned and many people today will still remember being forcibly retrained to use their right hand.

The reason for right-handed writing is a practical one. If you used old fashioned ink with your left hand, you'd smear ink across the paper with your hand. Fast-drying ink fixed that.