Teachers back campaign to scrap Sats exams in primary schools

The vast majority of teachers want the government to scrap high-stakes primary school tests such as Sats, an indicative ballot of members at the UK’s largest education union suggests. Some 97 per cent of members surveyed said they backed the National Education Union’s (NEU) campaign for an alternative to the exams, which are taken by children in Years 2 and 6. The results of the indicative ballot, which surveyed 54,500 primary school members of the NEU, have been published on the day the government releases this year’s Sats results. Earlier this year, delegates at the NEU annual conference backed plans for a possible boycott of next year’s tests, which they argue are “educationally flawed” and “increase stress” for pupils.