NUT says its SATs boycott is legally safe

THE National Union of Teachers is confident that it can head off any legal challenge to proposals for a boycott of primary school tests by teachers and headteachers next year.

by Tribune Web Editor
Friday, April 10th, 2009

by René Lavanchy

THE National Union of Teachers is confident that it can head off any legal challenge to proposals for a boycott of primary school tests by teachers and headteachers next year.

Tomorrow (Saturday) NUT delegates are expected to endorse a motion to the union’s annual conference in Cardiff calling for a boycott of SAT tests at ages 7 and 11. The National Association of Headteachers will vote on an identical motion next month, which could lead to schools refusing to set the tests in May 2010.

When the unions announced their plans for a joint vote two weeks ago, the Department for Children, Schools and Families warned headteachers that they had a statutory duty to administer the tests.

But NUT executive member Dave Harvey told Tribune: “We’ve had advice from the union’s senior solicitor. He’s confident that we have a trade dispute.” The NAHT said it  regretted having to make the threat.

Teachers’ unions have not joined together to boycott tests since 1993, when the then Conservative Government supported Tory-controlled Wandsworth council in a legal bid to stop the boycott. The council’s injunction was rejected by the High Court, which ruled the matter was a legitimate trade dispute because it covered working conditions.

This year, the NUT and NAHT are campaigning against testing on the grounds that it damages childrens’ education. But Mr Harvey was confident a boycott could be defended in court. He said: “To some extent it’s a genuine trade dispute in that we’re seeking a reduction in workload. This will be a way of reducing teachers’ workload as well as a way of providing a better, more rounded education in schools.”

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About The Author

  • http://www.leberceauretreat.com Nigel Bray

    I was in Primary Education for almost 25years. Now I live in France where I run a ‘retreat’ for people who need to get away in the holidays…I got away, and that was mostly driven by the insidious creeping in of SATS. I witnessed children slowly but surely being changed from excited, actively engaged learners into test-focussed, anxious and, sadly, lacking in the spontaneous nature that had characterised them.
    In addition, a whole generation of teachers became sad, disillusioned and felt betrayed: the profession they loved had changed beyond all recognition. So, they either teach on, unhappy and awaiting their pensions or just leave, unable to cope or bear witness to the loss of educating children in a free, exciting and dynamic way….SATS, and all the attendant rules, strictures and empty purpose, and the loss of the ability to teach their charges in the way that serves them best have been the cause. The decimation of the teaching profession, the poplulation of teaching professionals that is unhappy, stressed beyond measure (and underpaid, to comepensate for the work expected)is what we are left with.
    SATS MUST be abandoned and the people that propose their implementation (who have never been near a classroom) MUST listen to the teachers who are FAR better placed to know and assess the needs of the children in their charge.
    If I was still in the NAHT, I would most certainly vote to boycott them. Fortunately, I’m not – I’m living peacefully here in France, helping the teachers who ARE still in the profession get over one term, and prepare for the next! Also, some teachers, who abandoned their jobs, come here and have now set up their own businesses – there IS life after SATS…get rid of ‘em!

  • http://www.leberceauretreat.com Nigel Bray

    I was in Primary Education for almost 25years. Now I live in France where I run a ‘retreat’ for people who need to get away in the holidays…I got away, and that was mostly driven by the insidious creeping in of SATS. I witnessed children slowly but surely being changed from excited, actively engaged learners into test-focussed, anxious and, sadly, lacking in the spontaneous nature that had characterised them.
    In addition, a whole generation of teachers became sad, disillusioned and felt betrayed: the profession they loved had changed beyond all recognition. So, they either teach on, unhappy and awaiting their pensions or just leave, unable to cope or bear witness to the loss of educating children in a free, exciting and dynamic way….SATS, and all the attendant rules, strictures and empty purpose, and the loss of the ability to teach their charges in the way that serves them best have been the cause. The decimation of the teaching profession, the poplulation of teaching professionals that is unhappy, stressed beyond measure (and underpaid, to comepensate for the work expected)is what we are left with.
    SATS MUST be abandoned and the people that propose their implementation (who have never been near a classroom) MUST listen to the teachers who are FAR better placed to know and assess the needs of the children in their charge.
    If I was still in the NAHT, I would most certainly vote to boycott them. Fortunately, I’m not – I’m living peacefully here in France, helping the teachers who ARE still in the profession get over one term, and prepare for the next! Also, some teachers, who abandoned their jobs, come here and have now set up their own businesses – there IS life after SATS…get rid of ‘em!

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