Heads, speak out on pupil pressure

4th April 2008, 1:00am
Well done to John Greenless, in his letter of March 14, for putting forward such a compelling argument in favour of abolishing the unit assessments (NABs), which do so much to increase pupil pressure and teacher workload with so little benefit for learning.

But why don’t we hear headteachers speaking out more often about these important matters? It is obvious we are over-assessing in S5 and S6 and that pupils and teachers are struggling to cope with the excessive workloads and stress, yet we rarely hear from heads who are responsible for the well-being of their school communities.

How can anyone justify, let alone tolerate, a hard-working pupil in S5 being subjected to 20, 30 or even more formal tests and exams in a nine-month school session?

Harry Stewart, Dumbarton Road, Glasgow.