Charities, unions and parents challenge the tests
Pressure is mounting on the Scottish Government to rethink controversial P1 assessments.
Charities have mounted a postcard campaign encouraging parents to withdraw their children from standardised assessments in P1, P4, P7 and S3 which were introduced across Scotland last year.
Designed to measure the literacy and numeracy of children in their formative years, the Scottish National Standardised Assessment tests have been challenged by charities, parents and teachers unions.
A postcard campaign has been launched by Upstart Scotland, which campaigns for learning through play, to provide parents of primary one children with postcards to hand in at their child's school, opting out of the controversial tests.
Children in Scotland, Play Scotland, Connect (formerly the Scottish Parent Teacher Council) and ACE-Aware Nation have all endorsed the campaign.
They say the tests will cause anxiety for very young children.
Sue Palmer, chairwoman of Upstart Scotland, said: "Wherever national standardised testing has been introduced it has narrowed the curriculum, encouraged teaching to the test and caused anxiety among children, parents and teachers. This is particularly damaging during children's early years.
"Due to Scotland's extraordinarily early school starting age, our P1s will be sitting tests at an age when the overwhelming majority of European children aren't even at school."
P1s will be sitting tests when European children aren't even at school - Sue Palmer
Children won’t pass or fail the tests but instead they are meant to help teachers to find out more detailed information about children’s learning needs and development.
Tests in P1 are taken to measure the progress children make by the time they take part in more assessments in P4, P7 and S3.
However in response to the campaign, the Scottish Government said parents have no formal legal right to withdraw their child from assessments.
"The assessments are part of everyday learning and teaching. As has been the case for decades, for almost all teaching and learning there is no formal legal right for parents to withdraw their child from individual elements of that teaching and learning,” it claimed.
"However, as the Scottish government has always maintained, if a parent did not wish their child to take part in an aspect of teaching and learning, they should discuss this with the school - who have discretion available to them to decide whether the child then takes part in any given activity."
