Campaign launched to encourage parents to opt-out of P1 assessments

Date: 29th August 2018
Category: Education, including vocational education, Recreation, play and cultural activities

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A campaign has been launched by a number of children’s charities, parents’ groups and teaching unions to support parents who wish to withdraw their P1 children from standardised testing.

A number of organisations including Upstart, Children in Scotland and Play Scotland, as well as teaching union the Education Institute of Scotland (EIS) and national parent body Connect are supporting the campaign which aims to highlight that the P1 test are not mandatory. Postcards have been produced and despatched across Scotland which can be used by parents and sent to their child’s school if they wish to withdraw them from the tests.

Standardised tests for Primary 1s have been introduced by the Scottish Government in a bid to tackle the attainment gap and collect data on P1 children’s ability in reading, writing and maths. However, the policy has been criticised by many children’s organisations who stress that testing at such a young age can have an adverse effect on a child’s wellbeing and learning owing to factors such as stress and anxiety.

The campaign is the second stage of Upstart’s wider ‘Play Not Tests’ campaign which advocates for play-based learning in Scotland for children under the age of 7 years.

• Read more about the campaign here. 
• View Upstarts short video on the campaign here.