The Education Secretary’s changes to controversial tests do not allay “serious concerns” from teachers, warns the EIS.
Scotland’s largest teachers’ union said many of their members have raised fears about pupil wellbeing from the P1 standardised assessments, as well as staff workload.
Feedback from Tayside and Fife teachers published by the Scottish Government revealed widespread support for the tests in general, as a way of supplementing their judgements on pupil progress.
But schools also warned about the strain on resources, with support staff diverted from catch-up groups.
An Angus teacher said: “Support staff for small group intervention taken away for approximately two weeks in order to complete bulk of assessments.”
A member of teaching staff in Perth and Kinross said taking pupils out of class “repeatedly for days” was “disruptive”.
In a sign of student mutiny, one Fife teacher said the “biggest problem was pupils refusing to do them”.
John Swinney told parents he had listened to feedback, which he said was generally positive, and made “enhancements” to the assessments to “provide extra reassurance”.
The changes, announced in a government review published on Tuesday, include the replacement of some problematic questions with alternatives of a similar difficulty, while other questions will be redesigned or reordered.
An improvement forum is to be set up to look at all aspects of the P1 testing experience, while hints and tips on effective classroom management will be shared with teachers.
Susan Quinn, from EIS, said the review showed teachers had not been listened to.
“Many teachers, particularly those in the early stage of primary schools, have reported serious concerns over the stress that is being placed on young children who are undertaking SNSAs,” she said.
“The review recommendations published today seem to be doing little to address these concerns.”
