Possible challenge to legality of SATs boycott

0370 270 6000

Search Mobile

collapse

already registered?

Please sign in with your existing account details.

Email address

Password

need to register?

Register to access exclusive content, sign up to receive our updates and personalise your experience on brownejacobson.com.

Privacy statement - Terms and conditions

Forgotten your password?

collapseSign

Browne Jacobson home

Home

Insights

Blogs

Possible challenge to legality of SATs boycott

26 April 2010

Head teachers look set to boycott KS2 SATs for 10- and 11-year olds following a ballot by the NUT and NAHT.

Last week, the two unions confirmed that they would take industrial action against the tests, which pupils are due to sit in early May. Mick Brookes, general secretary of the NAHT, has said that KS2 SATs are “misused to compile meaningless league tables which only serve to humiliate and demean children, their teachers and communities.” However, the National Governance Association (NGA), has questioned the legality of any boycott. Clare Collins, Chair of the NGA, has said that industrial action “must be related to teachers’ terms and conditions”, but that SATs are “a performance measure, not a matter of their terms and conditions”.

With head teachers and governors seemingly at loggerheads, it seems highly likely that there will be a legal challenge to a SATs boycott, meaning that the courts will have the final say on this issue.

Related opinions

Head of Education, Mark Blois celebrates 25 years of being an education lawyer

Mark Blois, Browne Jacobson’s national Head of Education, is marking a notable anniversary, an incredible 25 years as an education lawyer.

View blog

Be wary of events post-dating the presentation of an Employment Tribunal claim

In Sakyi-Opare v Albert Kennedy Trust, the EAT held that an Employment Tribunal erred in deciding a claim was out of time because it did not first consider the claimant’s application to amend her claim, which included events that post-dated her claim.

View blog

A level results: what this means for schools and higher education?

This year’s A Level results have been a resounding success and demonstrate the commitment and resilience of students, schools and school staff during these unprecedented times. However, there will inevitably be some students who are disappointed with the teacher assessed grade.

View blog

Does the move into Step 4 mean the ending of Covid-19 restrictions within schools?

With the Prime Ministers announcement that he intends for Step 4 to begin on 19 July, this will also bring an end to the restrictions currently in place on education settings.

View blog

View all blogs