Our manifesto

Step2
Key Stat: 46% of young people aged 14-19 think that SATs should be scrapped*

The problem:

SATs only give a narrow picture of a young person’s skills and do not represent their wider talents. This means they’re of limited use when deciding post-14 educational pathways.

The solution:

Replace SATs with an individual profile of attainment, life skills and interests that can be used to monitor the student’s progress through school. This will be used by students, parents and teachers to choose a post-14 pathway.

*All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1,098 14 to 19 year olds in England. Fieldwork was undertaken between 8th to 13th Jan 2008. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted to be representative of 14 to 19 year olds in England.

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anonymous
A survey has strict limitations, a scientific poll is the only true method to avoid selfselection bias. After all asking 5 year olds if thereshould be free chocolate at break time would also get as favourable result as asking 14 year olds if SATs should be scrapped.
gettinga full icture is a good idea, but eventually a measuring of skills in a consistent and neutral manner is needed, so a test or check of performance is needed. SATS may not be perfect and of course they get distorted because of the impact of league tables

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