Geraldine O’Mahoney and her department are right to call for a boycott of the KS3 English tests and to ask for support from the NUT, NATE and LATE ( Boycott the narrow and arid key stage 3 tests , TES February 28).
LATE has been actively campaigning for a boycott since November last year when the inadequacies of the revised SATs became apparent. Many colleagues have already decided not to act as markers this year and there are English departments in several education authorities who are trying to gain support from headteachers, governors, parents and pupils for alternative methods of assessment to be used this year.
Colleagues who want to be part of the boycott campaign should contact LATE through me at johngwilks@hotmail.com and visit www.late.org.uk for more information.
John Wilks
General Secretary
The London Association for the Teaching of English