Sats 2024: Results rise but stay below pre-Covid levels

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the results highlighted “the ongoing impact of the educational disruptions caused by Covid-19”.

“Despite the tremendous efforts by schools to provide catch-up support, the learning loss experienced by some students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, was considerable,” he said.

He urged the new government to restore funding for the National Tutoring Programme, which was set up to help children catch up after Covid lockdowns disrupted education and is set to finish at the end of this academic year.

Other teaching unions called for the tests to be scrapped.

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said Sats placed “intense pressure” on schools and resulted in “narrower curriculums”.

“The new government must seize the opportunity to bring our assessment system into the 21st century,” he said.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers said the tests were “given disproportionate significance and pile pressure onto pupils and staff”.

He said the school leaders’ union would work with the new government to “develop an alternative and more proportionate approach”.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn pledged to scrap Sats in 2019. The new government has not gone that far but has pledged to launch “an expert-led review of curriculum and assessment”.

“Our review will consider the right balance of assessment methods whilst protecting the important role of examinations,” it said.