Scrapping of KS3 Exams?

[chrisstone]

So the news is that you teachers out there no longer have to teach your Year 9 students to take the KS3 SATs examination after 2009. I would be interested in what you think to this
Chris:cool:

[wilcogirl]

This must be a UK thing! Can you elaborate more?

[Daniel Bunker]

It seems to have been a popular decision to cull the KS 3 Sats. However, you have to remember why they were brought in. The Years 7 to 9 were sometimes known as the lost years, where students actually made little tangible progress from leaving primary school. Despite their undoubted faults, at least the KS 3 Sats tasks gave some information to parents, like me, as to the progress their children made at this time. I'm hopeful that schools will replace the Sats test with something that is robust and gives both teachers, pupils and parents an accurate and easy to undertand measure of progress during these three years.

[jpearson1]

I think the reason the SATS were scrapped was due to the fiasco of the marking this summer. The government is still producing the papers but have no one to take on the responsibility of marking them. I'm sure it won’t be to long till they have some other bright idea to replace them, meaning a complete overhaul of schemes of work!
We’re still going to order the test from the government but will just mark and level them our-selves.

[chrisstone]

Which brings us full circle, when the first SATs papers were taken late in the 1990's I as a teacher at that time marked the papers myself (not paid I may add) I wonder what teachers think who did gain finanially from marking papers.
I agree though they will bring along something else in the near future
Chris:cool: