The current waffle on the TV is the lib dems telling everyone that schoolchildren have to do too many tests and that they're horrifically stressful and not productive.

I find this a bit odd. I had to do the tests. I don't actually remember them, they were not even the slightest bit stressful to me or anyone I knew, it was just like a normal school day and didn't get "worked up to" – it was just an assessment of peoples skills and where they need to improve. So why is this such an issue – has this changed somehow since I took them?

dunno, when did you take them?

Haha thats part of the problem, I don't remember doing them, I just remember doing SATS and being told not to find them stressful, just try your best. But I was born in '81, if that helps?

Didnt realise you were the bench mark for everybody. People handle things differntly. A friend of my daughters has been having panic attacks parents took here to A&E the doctor asked her age and if she was doing exams shortly or at the moment. Suggests to me they see a number of stress related cases in children to suggest this.

Can be quite stressful now as almost all lessons are spent drilling into you how you have to do well or your future will be ruined.

But I was born in '81, if that helps?

Well, you clearly failed any grammar elements of your testing. Otherwise you would know you should never start a sentence with "But.." and that the quote above is not a question and therefore should not have a question mark.

😉

I think part of the problem with secondary school is that at GCSE you have exams twice a year in both years and then you can retake the modules you fail, rather than do two years then have an exam like I did. Then you get to A level and have the same modular exams twice a year for AS in lower sixth then again in upper sixth, so you always seem to have exams coming up.

At primary school its very important for the school, less so for the kd, so the schools pressure the kids.

Didnt realise you were the bench mark for everybody. People handle things differntly.

I'm not, and I never said I was. My point was that neither myself or any of my group of mates remember anything remotely scary about tests until mock GCSEs (and even then, most didn't care as they were mocks), so I'm asking what has changed. But conclusion well jumped to.

Realman – in general that's what we had too though, you were always told you needed to do well to get on in life, why is it that these days kids minds melt and they have panic attacks – are the tests that much more frequent or no-longer designed correctly so cause stress unreasonably? (genuine question, I'm happy to admit that I personally have never had trouble with exams but I'm aware others do despite being very capable)

They were not introduced till 1991 for 7 year olds and 95 for 11 year olds …no wonder you were not stressed by them when you sat them. Judging by your memory you may have struggled 😉
EDIT: they matter now as parents look at league tables as do others including OFSTED or LEA

We should get back to basics when it comes to tests… and enforce proper old-fashioned hunter-gatherer initiation rituals.

The tests were introduced for 7 year olds for the academic year ending July 1991, and for 11 year olds in the academic year ending July 1995. [1]

Similar tests were introduced for 14 year olds for the academic year ending July 1998 but were scrapped at the end of the academic year ending July 2009. [2]
The above from wikipedia, surely you're too old to have done SATs coffeeking??
Edit: damn my slow typing!

Well, you clearly failed any grammar elements of your testing. Surely you know you should never start a sentence with "But.."

English was never my strongest point but I'm a grammar pedant when it suits so I'll accept that comment despite thinking you can tailor your structure for the audience/target. 🙂

and that the quote above is not a question and therefore should not have a question mark.

What isn't a question? It looks like a question to me (a_a).

They were not introduced till 1991 for 7 year olds and 95 for 11 year olds …no wonder you were not stressed by them when you sat them. Judging by your memory you may have struggled

That's a fair observation. I wonder what exams we sat before entry to high school and in about the second year of high school then?! I'm fairly sure that at least the latter was called "SAT" tests at the time, possibly a coined phrase of course.

well you sat the test but it was not SATS
IGMC

Sorry touchy subject, seeing children getting stressed with tests and you with the what's the fuss about. Think of yourself and friends as fortunate.

well you sat the test but it was not SATS
IGMC

And don't come back 🙂

Sorry touchy subject, seeing children getting stressed with tests and you with the what's the fuss about. Think of yourself and friends as fortunate.

Well yes, that's sort of where I was heading – why has it got more stressful, what's different? Is it different, or is it just portrayed as different? I'm all for testing, I just wonder who is putting the pressure on and why. It's a shame if tuition towards a goal is being replaced by tuition towards passing a test, students should be taught a subject and tested on their knowledge of it and it accepted that everyone doesn't have to pass everything and having areas you're not good at is normal.

And grammar obviously wasn't my strong point 😀

Sata testing – a total waste of time as they show nothing of any use. It has narrowed the school curriculum as the schools teach to the testing not to educate.

All the evidence and research says they are useless and counter-productive.

Why are they stressfull – the amount of importance attached to them and the early ages kids do them.

schools have changed from when we were kids and are now just big factories designed to get people to pass exams there are many reasons for this change in culture – government control is one as both Lab and Tory have centralised education via SATS and National Curriculum for example.
In temrs of SATS
1.League tables are calculated from these tables
2. extra value is calculated from the results and how a school and a teacher prove their worth
3.It is a much more formal testing system based entirely on measurable outputs rather than leaving it to teachers and informal measures of progress.
4.Other non academic activities are usually not given the same focus – can we really tell that the school ethos is positive or that 10 children benefited in terms of their selfconfidence due to the community/art/music/sport/whatever project. No but we can tell accurately what their reading level is relative to their peers so we assess everything via academic testing.
Schools and everyone associated with them want the best results possible this produces stress for all and extra homework for 7 year olds.note EXTRA we did no homework till we wera aged 10-11 at primary. Big changes

Does certainly sound unpleasant and counter-productive. While I agree with the need to assess skills and student progress, and that there's a need for a set of minimum teaching contents, it doesnt help if the test is possible to be "taught for" other than teaching the subjects.

I guess I'm lucky in that no-one ever "pressured" me to do well at exams, school or parents, we were always told to do our best and no-one could ask more. I'd hate to be in early-years teaching.