P-04-569 Stop National Tests for Primary School Children:

Petition Wording

We call upon the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to remove national tests for primary school children.

Additional Information: I believe that National Tests for Primary School children cause unnecessary stress and anxiety in young children. Children should feel nurtured and positive in their attitude to school, not pressured and anxious about doing well in an unrealistic exam environment that only rewards those who perform well under such conditions, and punishes those who do not. To set children against one another and force them to consider the consequences of ’failure’ at such a young age is cruel. The National Tests are also widely condemned by teaching professionals as an ineffective motivating and measurement tool that does not work in determining a young child’s potential and current state of knowledge.

Petition raised by: Alexander Roberts

Date Petition first considered by Committee: 15 July 2014

Number of signatures :123