News

Ballot planned over 2020 SATs boycott

Members of the National Education Union have backed plans that could lead to a boycott of “all high-stakes summative testing within primary schools”, including next year’s SATs.

The motion, which was passed after a heated debate at the union’s annual conference in Liverpool over Easter, instructs the NEU to conduct a ballot of primary members to see if there is appetite for a boycott of all high-stakes testing in the 2019/20 academic year.

The ballot, which the NEU’s Executive Committee had argued against, is expected to take place next term. The NEU executive had attempted to amend the motion to remove the instruction to ballot, but this was defeated by delegates.

The final motion states: “Conference instructs the executive to ballot all primary members for a boycott of all high-stakes summative testing within primary schools for the academic year 2019/20 thus allowing teachers to make the decision about what testing assists their students.”

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