Stress and the Key Stage 2 tests
Some schools have refused to administer the Key Stage 2 because, they claim, of the stress on the children. Bill Greenshields, former president of the National Union of Teachers described the tests as 'child abuse.' The tests certainly do stress many children; that is beyond doubt. The source of the stress is not the tests but the teachers who experience even higher levels of stress because they are being asked to deliver high levels of competence in literacy to all children without being given either the appropriate means or skills to achieve this quite difficult task. Hard evidence in the form of decades of data, shows that teacher training does not provide student teachers with the skills which are essential if they are to deliver competence in literacy skills to all pupils. They are aware that their own professional limitations will inevitably result in one child in every five transferring to secondary school functionally illiterate. This knowledge imposes high levels of stress precisely because they care about their job and the children they teach.
Imagine being a consultant surgeon knowing that one in every five operations you conduct will fail because you possess neither the means nor the skills to ensure success in every operation. Solve the problem of the teacher’s stress by giving them the appropriate means and skills to deliver 100% literacy and their stress as well as the stress on the children they teach will vanish.
The ‘Hot Reading’ strategy ensures that every child will achieve Level 5 in English and ends the cycle of failure which is endemic in the UK Education system.
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