What You've Said

Panorama: Tested to Destruction was on BBC One at 8.30pm on Monday 12 May 2008

Thank you for sending us your comments on Panorama: Tested to Destruction.

The debate is now closed but a selection of your comments are published below.

Read more about Panorama: Tested to Destruction

Read Vivian White's feature

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I am a student teacher, and although I am a couple of years off being qualified, I have already made the decision that I don't want to teach year 2 or year 6 as I don't want to be the one responsible for putting the children through all that. I don't want to have to come in day after day seeing seven-year-olds stressed. One of my tutors said today, we teach that every child is unique and each has their individual strengths and abilities, but that is not the message that SATs sends out, SATs want everyone to have the same level, the level that looks good on a table.
Laura, Uckfield, East Sussex

My daughter is extremely bright, but at eight years of age has dyslexia and cannot read or write. She was forced to do SATS which made her feel like she was chained in a dungeon and then was given a poor score which made her feel worthless. Who benefited from this result? My daughter, the school, the education system, the Government? At the end of the day, she will still have dyslexia and her intellegence will be forgotton.
Mrs Handley, Bury st Edmunds, Suffolk

Well done to the staff and pupils at Phoenix Primary and Nursey School for showing how hard Sats are for the teachers and the pupils. Your school looks amazing. I am a year 4 teacher and my class have to complete the optional sats tests. I was feeling very despondent about the tests but after watching the programme your school made me realise that it isn't just me and my school who feel the pressure. The more people speak up about it, the more chance there is for change. Keep up the hard work.
Lisa Playford, Leicester

Thank you to Panorama for this programme. Our country is unique in judging children's success in such an uncreative and damaging way. We wonder why we have increasing mental health problems amongst our children. As a Head teacher and parent I can only hope that this is the beginning of the end. We should all be ashamed to have tolerated it for so long. The Labour Government in particular should hang its head. We are only now beginning to see the full effect on our most vulnerable pupils after 17 years of being compared unfavourably with and ideal. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
Debbie Rogan, Essex, England

Parents have power in this issue too: if children were withdrawn from the tests it would invalidate the results. It was my belief that the tests were not for the children's benefit, so mine were always 'ill' for the duration! They are now bright, well educated, working adults and the schools they went to are still thriving - I don't think it made any difference that I bent the rules!
Sarah Langworthy, Devon, England

Children are putting being put under far too much pressure by the excessive level of testing. Of course a certain amount of testing is essential, but under the current government policy there is far too much which puts children and schools under far too much stress. League tables should also be scrapped. But it seems Ed "So what?" Balls and the Department of Education do not seem to care about the levels of stress children and schools are being put under.
Paul Bicknell, Dorset, UK

Really enjoyed seeing this topic discussed, I have a daughter in year six at Sutton Primary School, It's a great school but I feel her final year has been robbed from her as she has done nothing but practice for sats since December. The feedback seems to focus on what children can't do rather than what they are good at.
Helen Lee, Ely Cambs

Simply could not believe the letter from the OFSTED inspector! How to ruin self esteem in one easy lesson. I would be furious if my child were sent a letter stating they were below average. What a numbskull this person must be.
Julia, Altrincham Cheshire

A well balanced report highlighting the real dangers behind the current Government's misguided Education Policy. We are producing a generation who are educated in one subject and that's passing exams. The programme was a fine illustration of how the Labour Government's continued obsession with counting things takes precedence over the considered research of professionals.
M.G.Goodwin, Rothbury, England

I have been teaching in Year 6 for 8 years and the children's cartoons moved me to tears tonight. I felt so guilty that I am "forced" to put children under such pressure and to what purpose? After being a lifelong Labour voter, I feel that the Government do not respect my professional judgement to assess children's levels. 99% of the children I have taught (about 500 children) have achieved the level at which I would have assessed them, however, some overachieve due to the "hothousing" effect; they achieve due to being taught how to do well in tests. I detest the SATS because, as a dedicated teacher who is passionate about my pupils' learning, I feel that the SATS stifle my creativity and stifle my pupils' curiosity to learn about their world.
Sharon Oswell, Surbiton, Surrey

As a parent of an 11 year old facing a week's trauma of SATS and who has just gone to bed with another headache, I was appalled at the smug attitude of the Government Minister. It would seem that the experiences of his counterpart in Wales on this matter are of peripheral interest to him. I would ask how many of the Welsh teachers who have lived through the farce of SAT's at 7 and 11 would want to return to them in 2008. I would guess at very few. It is another example of the joke that is the UNITED Kingdom. I would want to start a campaign that would bring this rudderless administration to its knees and that's for the parents of all 7 and 11 year olds to keep them way from school for the SATS week. Perhaps Mr Knight may then lose his annoying smirk.
Alan Baker, Stoke on Trent, UK

I have a 10 year old currently in the middle of her Sats, she has had revision from school for the last 3 months, she is crying herself to sleep with worry and has stopped eating due to stress. She is under far too much pressure for a 10 year old. i do not agree with the Sats and the pressure that children are put to, all for the school league tables. The current powers that be need to start listening to the teachers and the parents.
Sam Eatcliff, Glossop

These children don't even know what the word stressful means it is just what they have picked up from the negative response of their parents and teachers. If they didn't make a big deal over the SATs then children wouldn't be worried about them. Personally i am for the SATS in year six, as it helps them to prepare for life at high school. By doing these examinations it helps them prepare for the future such as GCSES and A levels. I am currently taking my A levels this week and believe me i know what stress is. The SATS just check up on what they know and its the parents who push them to do well to impress family and friends of what their 'little star' can do. They are children and that's just a test...RELAX!
Natasha Horvath, Bradford West Yorkshire

I am fourteen and have just sat my Key Stage Three exams and the pressure put upon us was immense. I felt that we had to do to much revision, moreover we were put under pressure to test our teachers. When I sat my year six exams it was okay, but the older and smarter i've become the more stressed the teachers have become for us to strive for success. Why doesn't the government step in? One week later and i've already started GCSE work, give us a break!
Jamie Read, Hunstanton

Last nights programme was way off the mark of reality, sats do nothing but sap the confidence of children who are slow learners/have educational and emotional needs, the thought of continual testing causes them to rebel against them by playing truant, disrupting classes and in some cases violent action against educators and school property, they are kids, they don't have an adult rational, encourage them to meet their expectations and they will achieve higher force them to meet yours and the majority will not even try to meet their own. Your programme seemed selective and not worthy of usual Panorama standards.
Tony Kirby-Suttie, Liverpool

I am an Exam Officer in a High School and feel the pressures on young people/children is phenomenal. The SAT's create stress and pressure on everyone in the school. The special needs children can't cope and are demoralised. As a parent of two primary school children I worry about the constant testing and the benefits it brings to only the bright students.
Jo Brooke, Norwich

It isn't the testing that's the problem, its the league tables. They put the pressure on schools to perform, and that pressure passes down through the teachers, to the children. While SAT results are linked to pay and performance, we will not see a change in this area. I believe we can track the decline in behaviour over the last few years to this trend... the children have disappeared under a pile of levels and average point scores!
Edlene Whitman, Croydon, Surrey

An excellent programme. It was frightening to listen to the government minister ignoring everything being said and concentrating on the data the testing system provides. The quality and the need for the data has always been questionable. The tests are not the main problem, it is the publication of the test results that is the main problem. Comparing schools in affluent areas with those in deprived inner city areas is wrong. Can you imagine a large TV manufacturer with two factories, to one it sends all its best components and to the other all its faulty components. It then turns around and condemns the factory with the faulty parts for being unable to make as many perfect televisions as it partner factory. This is what the government is doing to the schools. Tests show that the children are who are not as able do poorer than those who are more able. They show little else. Please remember that all other age groups also do SATS every year. These are called optional SATS but I have yet to find a school that doesn't do them and a teacher who is given any kind of option.
David Young, Leeds

Absolutely correct! What is in SATs for the children? The parents do not understand the results, which in any case are in such broad levels that they only give a vague indication of the child's achievement. From a Year 6 teacher who has been forced by league tables, the Local Authority and Ofsted to become very good at cramming children whose social and academic needs are definitely NOT met by SATs.
Lynne , Milton Keynes UK

Shouldn't MPs be subjected to regular SATs style testing? Probably once a year would be appropriate during the Summer break. Then come the general election we would have some hard facts to judge them by. Maybe attendance record in the House could also be included in the assessment.
Roy Fenner, Braintree, Essex, UK

The politicians are well aware of the fact that the SATs tests do more harm than good. The real problem is that politicians will never admit they have been wrong. SATs tests could be abandoned in Wales because the error in setting them up was made by English politicians not Welsh ones.
Ben Holdsworth, Farningham, England

As a teacher and the parent of a Year 6 child I think the Panorama programme failed to make the point that schools have very much brought about the 'testing to destruction' scenario themselves. If SATS are allowed to be used as a snapshot of children's attainment at the end of Primary School they are harmless enough, but because a school cannot be deemed to be outstanding by OFSTED unless its results are, there is pressure to ensure that the results are high. The actual test results are no longer realistic because teachers have given in to pressure and spend a year teaching to them and practising continually. The Government needs to address this problem in schools by ensuring the curriculum is fully adhered to in Year 6.
J Rutherford, Suffolk

This government is in denial regarding testing. Despite a growing body of independent studies backing up what teachers having been saying for years, ministers appear to be more concerned about adverse comments from sections of the media than providing children with a good all round education that engenders a love of learning. The problem is not with the tests; tests are useful indicators of how a child is progressing. It is the way the tests are used to judge schools through league tables and Ofsted inspections. A system where a significant number of eleven year olds make two years' progress in a couple of months, as they are crammed for SATs, and then apparently fail to progress any further in the next three years of secondary education, cannot be an accurate reflection of standards in schools.
Michael Dix, Leicester

Thank you for that programme. I am a peripatetic music teacher and not only have I been restricted in my teaching but have been excluded occasionally from a school during a SATS week. Also, not only has progress and enjoyment of music suffered at this time but I have had pupils give up learning their instruments specifically because of SATS. Need I say more?
Richard Smythe, Newport, Shropshire, U.K.

My son recently undertook an 11 plus exam and is now taking his SATS. I agree with the principle of learning and testing, however I am truly amazed by this genuinely mixed up regime. I have always thought that by giving the correct answer to a question you would score marks. This is no longer the case, you only pass if you use the relevant buzz word not if the answer is actually correct. Are we breeding a generation of spin doctors and young burnt out children without encouraging thoughts? This makes for a frightening future.
Nigel Jakubowski, Gillingham, England

Keep at it! Excellent programme, but sadly for me this attempt to criticise policy is far too long in coming and I am bemused as to how compliant teachers have been over the years when in fact we all learnt in training how "examinations" and "testing" can be/is non-educational... this I wrote many essays on at college in the 1970's and was much the philosophical position of most in education at that time.
Keith Deacon Cert.Ed., B.Ed (Hons),.M.A.,Cromer, Norfolk, England

Interesting programme. I am a primary school teacher and have a daughter in Year 6. I'd to take further the comments made that the problem with SATS are that the government expect results to improve year after year. As a teacher you are expected to attain a certain percentage attaining each level and it has to keep improving. Also it seems that your target is around 33% above average and 10% below average- how is that average? I don't mind that actual test but the pressure put on schools that is inevitably transferred to children is unacceptable. Children are labelled at failures very early on- and this doesn't breed success.
Karen Fakes, Newbury Berkshire

To me more testing is more pressure and less teaching. Children don't get a chance to use their imagination or grow at their own pace. Teachers are to busy sorting out tests to see potential in kids today. These kids are going to be burned out before they even think about what they want to do when they grow up.
Nicola Robinson, Northumberland

Standards have risen since the introduction of SATs because teachers now teach to them. Year 6 curriculum is straight-jacketed by the constant pressure to perform. In order for children to achieve on a test, they need to be taught how to answer test questions. In order for children to succeed in life, they need to be taught life skills. There is only room for one - which would you rather your child be taught?
Clare Cooper, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire

In my opinion, the blame for "congested" exam periods lies solely with the teachers. In one segment of a program, when questioned about post-SATs standards, a welsh teacher, almost offended, exclaimed "We're professionals!" So why is it, that teachers, as proud professionals, allow SATs to take over their curriculum and allow them to put pressure on their pupils? Surely the SATs, having no actual bearing on the pupil's future, would be better taken as an unexpected blind test for which there is no preparation? The impact is not due to the test, but rather with the rabid perusal of maximum results that headteachers and their staff display. Or, better yet, introduce more testing! Children get stressed with tests because they're unusual and because they're constantly exposed to information about how they're supposed to be stressed by the media. If children were to take blind tests at regular intervals every year, the SATs would not cause anywhere near the same stress when it matters, and would have a knock on effect for eventual GCSEs and A-levels.
Michael O'Kane, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

I was encouraged by the portrayal of Sats on last night's Panorama. I am a parent of 6 children with my oldest (year 6) currently taking her Sats. Both myself and my husband are University educated and are not inexperienced to say the least with the pressures that come with constant testing. I am sick and tired of ministers claiming that it is the parents who are driving this ship! They should come down to the school gates and listen to the opinion of the majority of parents! My child has been preparing for these exams since year 5!!! From Christmas onwards the talk has been nothing but sats. I can't imagine what exam fatigue she will have by the time she reaches 16. I feel sorry for her and all children . So to all the ministers who think you are doing the parents a big favour , face reality! You want to push your own agenda. Instead, do us all another favour and stop putting this ridiculous pressure on our children!
Louise Sewall, Flitwick, Beds, UK

As a primary school head teacher, I agreed with what was said about the narrowing of the year 6 curriculum. However, what was not brought out fully was the fact that schools teach to the test because this is what we are measured on. We are given targets to reach and woe betide if we don't make it. The full 'support' mechanism of the LA and various arms of the DCSF are brought down upon us! I despaired of Jim Knight's refusal to accept that SATs are a pernicious influence on our education system despite the weight of evidence from wide-ranging sources. It was very telling that at one point he did actually imply that it was getting easier to trust teacher's judgements because of the tests. So he confirmed what many of us have always known - SATs are there to test teachers not children.
Barbara Phillips, Towcester, Northants, England

The programme gave one side of the story to almost the exclusion of any other view - yes, there have been excesses in the testing regime but many of these have been removed, especially at age 7. Contrast this with what obtained for most of the 80s, where there was no common curriculum in the primary years, no agreed standards by which parents could really find out what their children were being taught (or not taught) - there was a culture of 'trust us - we know best' from education gurus, often described as 'the secret garden'; as the programme indicated some of the proposed reforms may be even more stressful than the present one. Although the programme did include one parent in favour of SATs, no evidence was adduced to indicate how parents overall responded to SATs - my guess is that if the clamour was so overwhelming against SATs the Labour government would have abolished them years ago - the fact that they have changed them very little is testament to the fact that it is recognised now that it is better for parents to have standardised information about their children, in an admittedly limited form, than no information at all.
Kenneth Smith, Fleet, Hants

You seemed to miss the obvious point; was it deliberate? SATS are used to judge schools by OFSTED and having 'bad' results leads to increased pressure via NTI or failing status. The government use them as a vote getter; standards are rising, we're doing a good job, etc...vote for us. I taught before SATS and primary schools weren't SAT sweatshops but were happy, exciting places for kids to be...like Wales is now. We were tricked, told SATS were for us, never to be used as yardsticks, never published, gullible fools we were.. My kids went onto pure core subjects months ago so we can be the same as other schools. By the way, why do the BBC keep saying kids fail SATS; no-one can.
J Waddle, Bedlington Northumberland

I am 15 now, and I've been through the Sats system three times. I took them in year 2, year 6 and year 9. I understand that you have to be tested, there has to be a way of measuring your knowledge. However, Sats are NOT! the way to do so. Firstly, you can forget about being educated, sats preparation is a constant drone of things to remember to pass a particular paper, making you test smart not educated. Secondly, it makes some kids really nervous. I'm a worrier and I always have been. I've always liked to learn things, but Sats were a battle and even as a child you could tell the teachers were stressed out and panicking. I remember protesting against Sats in year 6, and being shouted at. I also remember , children comparing their scores with each other, making certain individuals feel worthless and that they can never amount to anything. It's wrong and so stupid and use to really get to me. Fair enough, you needed to be tested, but they're not the be all and the end all. The sun always comes out another day, and I don't think kids are told that it doesn't matter as long as they do their best. I was absolutely disgusted that a school were told they were bellow average, how the hell was that suppose to make them feel? I think the government really need to buck up their ideas about education because I think It will just get worse if enough people don't make a stand. This matter has only been properly brought to attention now, but it was a problem from the very beginning. You don't need a Doctor of Physiology to tell you that sats make children unhappy and stressed.
Tricia Mann, Fareham, England.

I am 18 years of age and I have studied various testing levels, from SATs to AS-Level; at Private Prep schools. I believe that testing is important, but it can cause stress and strain on the students/pupils. The schools council try and fit as many exams into 1 week, which leads to 18 2-hour exams in one week. This can be very hard, given the you have a 5-10 minute break in between. Exams seem to be getting longer, 1 of my 4 maths AS-level papers was 38-pages long. Trying to remember 2 years worth of work, for every exam, with 5-6 exams a day?! Also, looking at the report about the SATs, how do expect 8-years olds of concentrate for 45-minutes under test conditions, and having the worry of failing the exam if they repeat the question to themselves, and are seen to articulate the question (miming the words in their head). Exams are becoming more pressured and stressful; and you don't want an 8-year to become stressed! I came out of the private system, and entered my local community school, the discipline of learning helped me but, was not as stressful and I was able to pace my learning in my own time. I passed 9-GCSEs at 'B'-Level, and one GCSE at 'C'. My conclusion is there are to many exams crammed into 1 or 2 weeks, the world-of-work, works under pressure but not to such tight deadlines.
Alex Brown, South Devon

Last week I took my Key Stage 3 SATs at the age of 13, a year earlier than usual. I don't think I felt any pressure over me and I felt I did really well in each of my subjects even though they were taken after a two year period rather than three. When I took my year 6 SATs like my sister is doing now, they revised over 6 weeks before the actual tests which I think HELPED rather than 'tested me to destruction' and afterwards we were rewarded greatly for what we'd done. I think SATs are a good way to prove that you can do well. In English we had to revise Shakespeare's Richard III and I really hated learning about it, but even though I did, I managed to write 4 pages about it. Wales have scraped SATs and Scotland never had them in the first place, I think this is a bad idea. Most people that don't do very well in their year 6 tests are the ones that don't listen in the first place (unless you have learning difficulties). I know learning is about having fun but when they grow up they're going to be thinking about what they'd like to be. I've never met anyone that is doing something that they wanted to do at the age of 11. So fair enough scrap the year 2 tests because I don't see the point in them, they've technically only been learning for 5 years so they shouldn't be tested. Year 6 should be tested because moving from Juniors to Seniors is a really big move and you'll combine with people from all over your catchment so you should try your best. Year 9 SATs are brilliant. They give you something to aim for. SATs are good things. They shouldn't be scrapped.
Stephanie Knight, Portsmouth

I withdrew my eldest daughter from her SATS but made the mistake of letting my middle daughter do her age 7 SATS. She came home having bitten all her nails off (she had been trying to grow them). She was very upset saying that everyone else was better then her and that she was no good. There is no way that my last child will do SATS next year. As far as I know parents to still have the right to withdraw their children from these SATS
sarah, Devon