Tests are narrowing the curriculum, say primary heads

Primary school heads have become far more worried about pupil testing during the last year, a survey suggests.

The National Foundation for Educational Research (NfER) found 32% felt National Curriculum exams for seven and 11 year olds were a major concern, up from 21% last year.

Pressures on staff to reach performance targets and a resulting "narrowing" of education are being blamed.

The National Primary Headteachers' Association claimed some heads even felt forced to "influence" results.

Spokesman Chris Davis said: "They might be tempted to give a nudge or a wink to pupils during the test, or prolong it to give them more of a chance.

'Cost to children'

"This could all be very damaging. We have long thought that performance league tables for tests have passed their sell-by date.

"A number of schools have narrowed their curriculum to make their position more acceptable. Often arts and creative subjects like drama suffer.

"While many schools are achieving good results through their own excellence, parents have to ask what the cost is to children in many other cases."

The NfER asked 378 of England's 23,000 primary school head teachers which three of nine concerns were the most important to them.

They were offered a choice of tests, budgets, staffing, inspections, special needs, buildings, changes to the curriculum, the National Curriculum and parental pressure.

The most popular was budgets - a recent cause of discord between the government and unions - picked by 57%.

Shortfalls in school funding, caused by staffing changes and increases in pension and National Insurance payments, are expected to lead to wide-ranging redundancies.

The government claims local authorities are holding back �500m intended for schools, but the authorities say they have not received the money.

Some areas are likely to be worse-affected than others, depending on budgeting.

Mr Davis said: "We don't know how many redundancies there will be. In my school, a teacher who is leaving will not be replaced.

"What we want is a national formula to give all schools at least a minimum service. If local authorities want to add to that, then fine.

"But everyone should be guaranteed enough to run a decent service."

After budgeting, the next most pressing concerns were staffing and special educational needs, chosen by 43% and 32% of respondents respectively.

The survey was the ninth carried out by the NfER since 1995.