This article in The Progressive, One Teacher’s Cry: why I hate no child left behind by Susan J Hobart, explores one teacher’s frustrations with an education system dominated by SATs, political policy and league tables.  Although based on Hobart’s experiences within the American education system, the world of doublethink (‘teach to the tests we don’t teach to’) and inflexible policy that hampers the very children it’s supposed to benefit will be familiar to many. 

Hobart’s concerns echo those raised by Mike Baker in the wake of the SATs chaos in England.  Both Baker and Hobart highlight the way in which pressure on schools to achieve good results can result in narrowing of the range of content taught in those areas subject to assessment, specifically English, maths and science, with classroom time being diverted from teaching subject matter to teaching children how to pass tests and accurately colour in the circles on multiple choice test papers.

Tests obviously have a vital place within the education system, and an especial importance at the end of primary education in order to provide a record of competencies for a child entering secondary education to ensure that their abilities and needs are catered for as effectively as possible.  In a culture where test results have as much to do with league tables and house prices as with the benefit to the pupil, however, it’s hard to see who the real winners are.