The Government has declined to rule out abolishing standard assessment tests (Sats) in primary schools as it reviews the curriculum and assessment for children.
Education minister Catherine McKinnell agreed that tests have a part to play in primary schools, but when questioned by Conservative MP Nick Timothy (West Suffolk) would not say whether they would be kept.
Sats have been criticised for causing stress for children, who are aged six or seven in Year 2, and 10-11 in Year 6, when they sit the exams.
Education unions, including the National Education Union and National Association of Head Teachers, have previously called for them to be stopped.
In 2010 headteachers led a boycott of the exams, and some parents have since chosen to withdraw their children from the tests.
Ms McKinnell said: “Assessment clearly has an important role to play in supporting achievement and supporting development within schools also.
“We will consider how the reformed curriculum and assessment will affect schools, and we recognise the importance of supporting schools with any changes that come forward in the interim and the final report.”
Mr Timothy had asked: “Sats in years 2 and 6 mean primary schools are held accountable and we can measure progress data through secondary education, but the National Education Union says Sats ‘do not benefit learning’, and wants the Government to abolish them.
“Will the minister rule out abolishing Sats from primary schools, yes or no?”
The curriculum and assessment review is chaired by Professor Becky Francis, who runs a charity that aims to improve educational achievement for poorer pupils. She will publish recommendations later this year.
Catherine McKinnell (Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament/PA)
Conservative MP Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) said Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson should resign if England falls down the Programme for International Student Assessment league tables for reading.
The last time it was measured, in 2022, England was 13th in the world for reading, behind countries including Ireland, Estonia, Canada and Japan. The table is compiled every three years.
Mr Holden said: “Great teaching and great policies saw children in England soar up the international league tables under the last government.”
He added: “I think that the Children and Schools Bill risks this progress. If the Secretary of State disagrees with me, will she put her money where her mouth is and resign if England falls down international league tables?”
Mr Phillipson said: “It’s the same kind hyperbole we often get from (Mr Holden) and you wouldn’t know really from that question the shameless sense of pride, the misplaced sense of pride often that they have when you consider that one in three children are not school ready, one in five children are regularly out of schools and our scores were dropping.
“Contrary to what he suggests, we face big challenges around standards, a huge disadvantage gap, there is a lot that this Labour Government is having to turn around to make sure that all children get the great start in life.”
Ms Phillipson was criticised over the Government’s spending of £90 million on advertising while cancelling the Latin Excellence Programme, which gives wider access to Latin for state school children.
Conservative shadow education secretary Laura Trott compared the costs involved, and said the Government was also scrapping computer hubs, language hubs and advanced maths provisions.
Ms Trott said: “How on earth can the Secretary of State justify spending £90 million on a one-year contract for advertising and media, while cutting a £4 million Latin Excellence Programme mid-year, a programme which is helping improve school standards in some of the most deprived areas of the country?
“Doesn’t this show that the Secretary of State’s priorities are all wrong?”
Ms Phillipson referred to Labour’s financial inheritance, and Ms Trott’s role in the Conservative Treasury team when the party was in government.
She added: “We faced unprecedented challenges, and where it comes to Latin we are working with classics associations to ensure that children can continue to study Latin. It is important that children in our state schools have that opportunity. But (the last government) designed the scheme to terminate in February.”
She continued: “Some of the investment we do need to make is about making sure that people come forward to train as teachers, particularly because of the chronic issues we face around recruitment and retention, because of the mess left behind after the last Conservative government.”