UK : Tests 'stopping children playing'

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UK : Tests ‘stopping children playing’

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April 6, 2007 at 5:35 pm

#692036
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General Lighting

@general-lighting

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WTF? I’m not sure but I think Year 1 is first year infants school..

you know its bad when teachers say there should be shorter lessons and more play…

I’m so glad I don’t have kids and if I did I would either try and educate them myself or leave the UK…

Tests ‘stopping children playing’
Five-year-olds are being prevented from engaging in traditional play as they are under too much pressure from the national tests, teachers have warned.

With lessons geared towards assessment, children are bored from the moment they begin formal schooling, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers warned.

Traditional play with sand and water was being replaced with work, it added.

A motion at the union’s Bournemouth conference expressed concern at the loss of play in the curriculum.

A teacher at Riddlesden St Mary’s Church of England Primary School in Keighley, West Yorkshire, Alison Sherratt, said children in Year 1 felt “ruled by the bell”.

She said: “Pressure is now put on Year 1 teachers to prepare children for tests by removing sand, water, role-play etc and replacing with work space.”

This was a “good model for how to switch children off and create failure,” she said.

“In Year 1, children are already bored by constant assessment and tests. They know they’re going to be tested.”

‘Boot camp’

Children were caught “like Frank Bruno’s punch bag” between the different educational goals, she added.

Year 1 pupils were expected to cope with formal learning in a big class, and were rushing “ever closer” to testing in Year 6, she said.

A teacher at Mill Mead Community School in Hertfordshire, Jackie Harvey, said children should be given the chance to play.

But she added: “Children in my class know that play is the carrot at the end of the worksheet trail. That’s not something I am happy about.”

Earlier this week, ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said primary school had become a “boot camp” for 10-year-olds as teachers prepared them for tests.

At seven children in England are tested on English and maths.

At age 11 and 14 they tested again but on science as well as English and maths.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/education/6530827.stm

Published: 2007/04/05 16:19:56 GMT

© BBC MMVII
April 6, 2007 at 5:38 pm

#883190
1

Raj

@raj

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:noway: :you_crazy:you_crazy:you_crazy
April 6, 2007 at 7:02 pm

#883195
6

Angel

@angel

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We have a lot of tests in the schools in Denmark too :yakk:

And when the kids start in 3. grade they start to learn English ( 8-9 year old kids )..

Lot of them still can’t read or write Danish properly..:crazy_diz

It’s very confusing for them and it take to much of their time..

Kids are not allowed to be kids anymore :you_crazy:you_crazy:you_crazy
April 6, 2007 at 7:18 pm

#883187
6

General Lighting

@general-lighting

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Angel wrote:

We have a lot of tests in the schools in Denmark too :yakk:

And when the kids start in 3. grade they start to learn English ( 8-9 year old kids )..

Lot of them still can’t read or write Danish properly..:crazy_diz

It’s very confusing for them and it take to much of their time..

Kids are not allowed to be kids anymore :you_crazy:you_crazy:you_crazy

has the system changed then?

I thought that kids did not start junior school until age 7 in Denmark, and there was more play allowed..
April 6, 2007 at 7:31 pm

#883196
6

Angel

@angel

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Kids in Denmark start in school when they are 6..

But you can, as a parent ask for a year more if you don’t feel your kid is ready for school.

One of my twins started school when he was 6,the other twin a year later because his father and I didn’t mean he was ready..

Well as it turns out he wasn’t ready even a year later..The first year in school must have been hell for him :group_hug:group_hug:group_hug
April 10, 2007 at 12:03 am

#883194
1

imported_rach

@imported_rach

Member
i loved the sand pit at my school! we had a toy kitchen as well… that was top notch!

its just as much about education as it is about learning vital social skills at that age,

its scary how you hear more and more about young people that cant deal with the pressures of exams and do terrible things to themselves.
April 10, 2007 at 10:18 am

#883191
1

So not a good look

@so-not-a-good-look

Member
:you_crazy:you_crazy:you_crazy:you_crazyGetting sick to death of the implications that we and our children are just not capable of doing or learning anything without constant nudging along by the authorities.

And as Angel says,let them be children for fooks sake after all thats what they are no?
April 21, 2007 at 3:05 pm

#883188
6

General Lighting

@general-lighting

Moderator
Staff
Angel wrote:

We have a lot of tests in the schools in Denmark too :yakk:

And when the kids start in 3. grade they start to learn English ( 8-9 year old kids )..

Lot of them still can’t read or write Danish properly..:crazy_diz

It’s very confusing for them and it take to much of their time..

Kids are not allowed to be kids anymore :you_crazy:you_crazy:you_crazy

I think there should be less emphasis on tests but I still think learning the languages early is a good idea.

I think it is possible to learn Danish, English and even German as “parallel languages” as so many bits are similar.

perhaps rather than tests and exams there should be more emphasis on learning through play for these younger children, maybe they could role play that they are going in a boat from Copenhagen to Lowestoft, and practise their language that way, whilst also learning about the North Sea, boats, fish and our common history?

I understand that there can be confusions over spelling (I nearly wrote fisk back there :laugh_at: ) but instead of being given bad marks the children should be shown the subtle differences..

learning languages breaks down barriers…

Yesterday I was lurking in the chatroom – I found everyone had left, but !sinner69! and Angel had been chatting (in Danish!)

But I worked out that Angel had watched Harry Potter with one of her kids, and that Liloo (sinners dog) had been in heat (løbetid)

And I have only started reading Danish stuff since sinner posted all the Ungdomshuset pages and occasionally I’d end up on a Danish link, so I was quite proud of myself – and if an “old” chap like me can feel this happiness from understanding even a small part of another language, it could be the same for the children if taught correctly 🙂
April 21, 2007 at 3:08 pm

#883193
1

Digital-A

@digital-a

Member
General Lighting wrote:

perhaps rather than tests and exams there should be more emphasis on learning through play for these younger children, maybe they could role play that they are going in a boat from Copenhagen to Lowestoft, and practise their language that way, whilst also learning about the North Sea, boats, fish and our common history?

give up the I.T job GL and get into teaching 😉
April 21, 2007 at 3:12 pm

#883189
6

General Lighting

@general-lighting

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Digital-A wrote:

give up the I.T job GL and get into teaching 😉

I have actually thought about it but
- it pays less
- I have a minor criminal record for drug use (I might still get the job but I’d be under constant scrutiny from my bosses because of it)
- I couldn’t put kids through the current testing/disciplinary regimes, and by the time these are knocked on the head I’d be too old..
April 21, 2007 at 3:26 pm

#883192
1

MisterDuck

@misterduck

Member
General Lighting wrote:

perhaps rather than tests and exams there should be more emphasis on learning through play for these younger children, maybe they could role play that they are going in a boat from Copenhagen to Lowestoft, and practise their language that way, whilst also learning about the North Sea, boats, fish and our common history?

teachers do those sorts of things, while i agree that tests shouldn’t be emphasised half as much as they are, there is still a lot of freedom in primary education as to how the teachers teach their pupils, and many many opt to do fun activities that also incorporate (wrong word i think…) learning.

me mams a primary school teacher. funnily enough she teaches years 3+4, who don’t have any form of exams… and the pay is absolute shit for a vital profession and one which requires a lot more work than a lotta people think…

i think that the freedom of primary school teachers as to how they teach may get less, as the national curriculum gets more structured and more into the “one size fits all” ideology where kids are just statistics with a letter grade next to their name.
April 21, 2007 at 11:13 pm

#883197
6

Angel

@angel

Moderator
Staff
General Lighting wrote:

Yesterday I was lurking in the chatroom – I found everyone had left, but !sinner69! and Angel had been chatting (in Danish!)

But I worked out that Angel had watched Harry Potter with one of her kids, and that Liloo (sinners dog) had been in heat (løbetid)

And I have only started reading Danish stuff since sinner posted all the Ungdomshuset pages and occasionally I’d end up on a Danish link, so I was quite proud of myself – and if an “old” chap like me can feel this happiness from understanding even a small part of another language, it could be the same for the children if taught correctly 🙂

You’re an amazing talented man..:group_hug

Not all people are like that,some just never get it right..:hopeless:
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