Curiosity killed by SATs: an investigation of mathematics lessons within an English primary school

Ward, Gavin; Quennerstedt, Mikael

doi:10.1080/03004279.2018.1429479

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The absence of play from the infant school classrooms in which I work serve to produce particular kinds of students ready to work to the rigid timetables necessary to get through the curriculum content set down. In line with other state schools in the UK (Ward & Quennerstedt, 2019;West, 2010) from year one onwards at Greenfield, the teachers and students work to timetables which reflect the hierarchy of curriculum subjects in terms of numbers of hours allocated to them and the time in the day in which they are taught. Thus, mornings are given over to English and maths whilst the humanities, science, music, PE, and art are taught in afternoons.…”

Section: The Appearance Of Play In An In-between Moment Of Transitionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Including ‘difficult’ students: counter politics, play and liveability in the primary school classroom

Teague

2020

Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Drawing upon Judith Butler's conceptualisation of performativity and subjectification, this article explores the effects of different kinds of counter political action to disrupt exclusionary school practices that further marginalise children who are, often already, on the edges of school life. Firstly, tracing the impossibilities sometimes encountered when taking up a politics of reinscription, the article goes on to argue that the role of the pedagogue engaged in counter politics needs further disruption in order that children themselves have more space to determine who and how to be. Here, I explore how the rigid teacher/ student hierarchical binary can be unsettled through play. A more intersubjective relationship emerges between teacher and student which can make school feel more liveable and sustainable. Given the highly pressurised conditions in schools, globally, in this time of late neoliberalism, finding ways to make school more liveable is essential work. This article suggests that whilst moments of play, such as the one detailed here, are often fleeting, their effects can be felt afterwards. Finding opportunities for play is an important counter political strategy in schools at this time.

show abstract

Section: The Appearance Of Play In An In-between Moment Of Transitionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Including ‘difficult’ students: counter politics, play and liveability in the primary school classroom

Teague

2020

Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…International research on high stakes testing has suggested a variety of impacts on all areas of schooling, from teacher professionalism and subjectivities, to pedagogy and practice (Bibby 2009;Booher-Jennings 2008;Hall et al 2004;Keddie 2016;Reay and Wiliam 1999;Torrance 2017;Ward and Quennerstedt 2019). A variety of effects has been noted relating to how teachers organise and teach children in their classrooms over the last nearly three decades of national curriculum assessments in England.…”

Section: The Relationship Between Assessment and Pedagogic Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Intervention culture, grouping and triage: high-stakes tests and practices of division in English primary schools

Bradbury

Braun

Quick

2021

British Journal of Sociology of Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper explores the practices of division in operation in primary schools in England in response to the pressures of high stakes tests at age 10/11, known as SATs. Using data from interviews with 20 primary headteachers and information from a survey of nearly 300 primary heads, we argue that the organisation of pupils in preparation for SATs involves 1) the use of grouping by 'ability' in sets, despite the increasing evidence of the disadvantages; 2) forms of educational triage, where borderline or 'cusp' children are prioritised, and more complex forms of 'double triage'; and 3) the growth of 'intervention culture' where some children are withdrawn from normal lessons to resolve 'gaps' in their learning. In this article these practices are understood through a Foucauldian lens as micropractices of power which label and categorise pupils within an accountability system that seeks to classify pupils on a norm/Other binary.

show abstract

“…There may also be crowding out of activities that are not measured. Public examinations may encourage schools to ‘teach to the test’, thus reducing attention to other non‐measured educational opportunities (Ward and Quennerstedt, ). The EBacc indicator, which holds schools to account for pupils’ achievement in specified core academic subjects, has been found to reduce schools’ focus on physical education (Maguire, Gewirtz, Towers, et al., ).…”

Section: Accountability and Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accountability, performance management and inspection: how to enable positive responses to diversity?

Roberts

Whittaker

Starbuck³

et al. 2020

Research in Spec Educ Needs

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This seminar focused on three questions, (1) How can accountability be focused beyond the academic core to cover greater breadth while also being more nuanced and flexible?, (2) How can an OFSTED framework be designed to reward positive responses to diversity? and (3) How can an accountability system give voice to the real experiences of children and young people with SEND?The first presentation was by Dr Jonathan Roberts, LSE, who considered several key questions: How do we think about the purposes, kinds and levels of educational accountability? Does accountability need a simpler and more coherent framework? What does 'being good' at provision for the diversity of pupils mean in practice? What sense can be made of the new proposed Ofsted framework based on this analysis? He argued that accountability in education is not simple, given the variety of stakeholders, the breadth of relationships and the multidimensionality of outcomes create extraordinary challenges in designing robust accountability regimes. His paper in introducing how accountability regimes work in the English schools, presents reasons why accountability for provision for pupils with SEND is not yet sufficiently incisive. It sets out principles for the design and implementation of accountability systems in the SEND field. Throughout a central question recurs: do accountability mechanisms lead to learning, and from learning to service improvement? Accountability systems, especially for children with SEND, must move beyond the description of problems and the implementation of sanctions to constructive action.

show abstract

Curiosity killed by SATs: an investigation of mathematics lessons within an English primary school

Cited by 7 publications

References 39 publications

Including ‘difficult’ students: counter politics, play and liveability in the primary school classroom

Including ‘difficult’ students: counter politics, play and liveability in the primary school classroom

Intervention culture, grouping and triage: high-stakes tests and practices of division in English primary schools

Accountability, performance management and inspection: how to enable positive responses to diversity?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About