TEACHER-training colleges should boycott new maths tests for student teachers, according to the English teachers’ association.
The National Association for the Teaching of English - the group which spearheaded the successful tests boycott in 1993 - believes that new maths tests due to be taken by all new teachers this summer are unfair. It says they could deprive the profession of excellent English teachers who are not able mathematicians
Some students have already demanded a test boycott and the National Union of Teachers has called for it to be abandoned.
Martin Tibbetts, chairman of NATE, said: “We feel that it is completely unfair to this year’s tranche of students who will have to sit tests which they did not know existed when they signed up.”
NATE will consult members about a boycott at its conference which starts today in Swanwick, Derbyshire.
