LAST SUMMER'S successful boycott of the government's discredited national curriculum tests was a major victory for teachers and parents, but it is premature to suggest that the victory is complete.
The recently published Dearing report, readily endorsed by John Patten, is clearly designed to regain the initiative for the Tories following their humiliating climbdown.
There are already worrying signs that Dearing is having the desired effect with the leaderships of the ATL and the NAS/UWT advising members to carry out this year's tests; although the NAS/UWT is refusing to do the associated teacher assessment.
Only the NUT, the largest of the unions, is holding firm following a survey of members opinion showing overwhelming support for a boycott. (9 out of 10 members were opposed to the tests).
It is vital that this resistance to the Tory agenda for education continues given that the Dearing Report challenges so few of its assumptions.
At first glance it appears that the complaints of teachers have received a sympathetic hearing. The national curriculum will be slimmed down to release more' lesson time to be used at teachers' discretion. Nothing to gain from Tory tests The curriculum statements will be reduced and the administrative burden eased. The tests themselves will be simplified and will be restricted to the core subjects of Maths, Science and English.
Lip service is even being paid by recording continuous teacher assessment, although this will appear in pupils' records alongside test results which will appear to be more 'objective'.
Teaching to tests However since the curriculim will still be tested, the danger is that teachers will teach to the tests and pupils will have a very reduced curriculum. For example in English the teaching of media studies will no longer be tested. As a result this may be dropped to ensure that grammar and punctuation, which will be tested, are adequately taught.
Unsurprisingly, Dearing offers no real challenge to the Government's committment.to the publication of league tables at 11 and 16. Schools will still be obliged to publish, and journalists will inevitably put these together to form new league tables.
With funding following pupils the temptation to "teach to test" is obvious. However, equally insidious is the government's intention to allow some secondary schools to become selective. There are legitimate fears that the tests at 11 will be used to re-introduce, by the back door, the reviled grammar/secondary school divide.
This assault upon comprehensive education and equality of opportunity is consistent with the Tory attack on GCSE courses. They have done away with any syllabus which allowed pupils' grades to be based completely upon coursework, seen by many teachers to lend itself to mixed ability teaching.
In place of 100% coursework, boards have been forced to institute tiered exams in which teachers enter pupils for different exams, so promoting streaming and increasing the likelihood of failure for many pupils.
Dearing's support for the development of vocational courses for the less academic at 14+ underlines the move towards a two-tier system of education. His proposals for two paths into vocational education must be seen in the light of the Government's dismal record in this area:.
In this country vocational education continues to be associated with accomodating educational failure rather than promoting occupational success.
In this context Dearing can only serve to increase the academic/vocational divide; while A levels dominate the curriculum and are seen as the only true hallmark of educational success, this divide cannot be overcome.
Clearly, it is essential that the boycott of the tests is maintained. However there is also a pressing need for socialists to engage in the formulation of an alternative strategy for education. This is an important debate that has yet to begin in earnest.