100 signatures reached
To: The Department for Education
Put a time limit on SATs-focused maths and literacy lessons in primary school
We want primary schools to apply age-appropriate time limits on the number of hours children can spend on SATs-focused maths and literacy each day. With the time saved, our children can learn to love school again.
Why is this important?
The government have raised the stakes of SATs so high that poor results spell disaster for primary schools. As a result, even in Year 1 - at age five - our children spend more time practising handwriting than painting pictures, because then they'll be ready for the SATs prep they'll have to endure in Year 2.
There are no rules that limit the number of hours children can spend on SATs-focused maths and literacy in school, and teachers are telling us their pupils often spend entire weeks doing not much else.
Our children aren't happy at school anymore, and neither are their teachers. It is a sorry state of affairs when parents have to fight for their children's right to play, but that is what we must now do.
If the government want to test our children's maths and literacy ability, their tests must reflect the level our children can be expected to achieve if they work on these subjects for a reasonable amount of time each day.
If the level of difficulty of the current tests requires our kids to spend all day every day doing nothing but exam preparation, then the tests are too hard.
There are no rules that limit the number of hours children can spend on SATs-focused maths and literacy in school, and teachers are telling us their pupils often spend entire weeks doing not much else.
Our children aren't happy at school anymore, and neither are their teachers. It is a sorry state of affairs when parents have to fight for their children's right to play, but that is what we must now do.
If the government want to test our children's maths and literacy ability, their tests must reflect the level our children can be expected to achieve if they work on these subjects for a reasonable amount of time each day.
If the level of difficulty of the current tests requires our kids to spend all day every day doing nothing but exam preparation, then the tests are too hard.
