Rejected petition Postpone personalised assessments in Numeracy and Reading

Why are we testing our youngest pupils when GCSEs and A levels have been scrapped due to educational disruption through Covid?

More details

As a teacher of year 2 pupils, I have long disagreed with the need for testing. The process generally causes anxiety for pupils and doesn't provide me with any information that I don't already know about them from everyday formative assessments of them.

This year is exceptional, children missed a great deal of face to face teaching from March and are less prepared to be able sit such test. With GCSEs and A levels being scrapped this academic year, I can't understand why these assessments need to go ahead. Many children have had to self isolate for periods of time since September and this leaves these pupils at a disadvantage to others.

Anxiety is a concern for children in schools at this time anyway, with schools running in a different way and with their own worries about their friends and family. This is not the time to put unnecessary pressure on them. We should be concentrating on keeping them safe and happy. The data we would collect would be irrelevant at best.

Why was this petition rejected?

It did not collect enough signatures to be referred to the Petitions Committee.

Petitions need to receive at least 250 signatures before they can be considered in the Senedd.

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards

Rejected petitions are published in the language in which they were submitted