Closed petition Reverse plans to reintroduce national tests for six and seven year olds.

Closed on 14 June 2016

Reintroducing national tests for six and seven year olds will not raise standards in schools. On the contrary, it will damage education by restricting the range of activities that young children experience in school. When schools are judged by results, teaching to the test is inevitable.

Key Stage One tests were abolished to great acclaim in 2004 and teachers, the experts in education, do not want to see them return. Schools are currently facing real term cuts and a crisis in teacher recruitment. Our children are already some of the unhappiest in the world in school, according to a survey conducted earlier this year by The Children's Society. Subjecting our youngest children to formal exams will not reverse this trend.