Stop SATs in 2017

It isn't only the SATs that we need to boycott; there needs to be a boycott of the entire poorly-designed, ill-conceived curriculum that has been forced upon us and our children. The whole system from curriculum to assessment without levels to the tests to progress measures is nothing short of a total joke. We have gone from a Primary system to be proud of to one that must be the laughing stock of the rest of the world at huge cost to the children's self esteem and staff confidence and morale. After a career of passionately working to improve the life chances of my children never have I wanted to leave education more than I do currently. I'm still fighting against a ridiculous system imposed by those who have never taught but every day that fight is extinguished a little bit more by the combined efforts of the Government, Ofsted, HMI and the DFE. Nothing makes any logical sense, nothing fits. The whole system is one whereby we are being asked to fit square pegs into round holes and no matter how many discussions we all have, the square pegs won't fit in the round holes. Give us back our curriculum, our levels, our language of assessment so that as a group of professionals we can communicate effectively with each other and with our children and with their parents for the academic good of all children in this country and aim improvements where they belong, at the secondary sector (with notable exceptions) many of whom have been allowed to fail our young people for decades.