Teachers prepare to boycott 'cruel' compulsory tests for five‑year‑olds
August 3 2018, 12:01am, The Times
School staff have said some five-year-olds were left shaking and crying after taking the testsDAVE THOMPSON/PA
Teachers are preparing to boycott the compulsory testing of five-year-olds during the next school year.
The country's largest teaching union is expected to instruct members to refuse to put P1 pupils through the new exams, after complaints from teachers over the impact they had on young children.
A dossier of hundreds of comments was sent to the Scottish government this week containing reports of five-year-olds "shaking and crying" after being made to take the "cruel" tests. Teachers also said the exams, introduced in the last school year, wasted time and offered no worthwhile data.
John Swinney, the education secretary, has said he will review how the tests are delivered to the youngest children but ruled out scrapping them.
The EIS union is set to formally…