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A week after 11-year-olds completed their SATS tests, the Green Party is pledging to scrap them. Launching their plans for education today, the Greens will also pledge to ditch Academies and promise to plug a £7billion funding gap facing education.
The plans being unveiled by the Greens will undoubtedly please many Bristol teachers who are strongly resisting funding cuts and have challenged parliamentary candidates to explain to voters how they wiII address the crisis in education [1].
Molly Scott Cato MEP is set to join protesters at the March for Education rally in Bristol on Saturday [2]. The Green Party parliamentary candidate for Bristol West said:
“Last week, primary children across Bristol took their SATS tests. It would be great if this was the last time that these pointless and stressful tests are inflicted on our children. Getting rid of SATs tests would be a big step towards broadening the curriculum away from a narrow test-driven focus. Full marks to our wonderful teachers who still manage to put creativity into lessons and inspire children to learn, but scrapping SATS would free them up to do so much more.”
“Greens also believe it’s time to end the academies programme and bring existing academies back under local authority control. Parents and teachers should control children’s education – not private businesses.
“Likewise, increased funding is desperately needed to safeguard our children’s education. Figures show that by 2020, 99% of schools will have been hit by a funding cut [3] which will mean more pressure on both teachers and pupils. The cuts threatened by the Conservatives will amount to a loss of more than £33m for Bristol schools [4] and will put at risk the jobs of almost 1000 teachers in the city [5].”
“Already, we’re seeing schools like Redland Green [6] and Olympus [7] feeling forced to go cap in hand to parents as the funding crisis hits critical levels. At the same time, unmanageable workloads are forcing many teachers to leave the profession, or take time off exhausted or stressed, and fewer people are choosing a career in teaching.”
“Greens promise to invest £7billion in the education system to fill the funding gap created by years of underinvestment and cuts and so create an education system that can positively transform lives.”