The Guardian,here, has a picture of Michael Rosen above an article campaigning for the abolition of SATS. There are two problems with SATs:
1. The marking of the English SATs is corrupt, with mark boundaries adjusted to meet political considerations at the QCA. The English SATs do not do what they should do, and in particular Level 4 does not mean Level 4. These SATs should be removed from the QCA, which is not competent to oversee them.
2. The maths SAT is fairly marked, but the language contains hidden obstacles which prevent pupils from seeing the nature of the question in some cases. This turns the maths SAT into something like an English SAT.
3. There is too much discretion in the amount of support offered in the science SAT, so that results are unreliable between schools.
Getting rid of SATs would leave no reliable check on performance at 11. This would suit the Left and Michael Rosen, who uses his position as Children's Laureate to promote left wing causes. Reliable SATs would show that the proportion of pupils achieving L4, genuinely, in English and maths is lower than the government would find politically acceptable. Taking the politics out of SATs can only be achieved by removing the political influence of left-leaning officials, and putting them under the control of genuinely independent examining boards.
Among the reforms needed in English are:
Remove the handwriting test and grade handwriting as part of writing.
Apply the spelling and punctuation criteria in the National Curriculum strictly.
Reform the grading system to give more credit for reading what is on the lines rather than what is between them, so that inference and deduction are removed from their predominant position. If necessary, the National Curriculum should be amended to make this explicit.