Sats for seven year olds are the most contentious

The government is coming under increasing pressure from parents and teachers to scrap the national tests for seven year olds.

Charles Clarke says he will not scrap the tests but says he will consider having more assessment by teachers and less formal testing.

He told BBC Breakfast: "Tests at 11 are especially important. They provide children with basic numeracy and literacy.

"At seven, there is a role for more teacher assessment in the process.

"We are not getting rid of them, but we are open to looking at ways of making the tests less stressful than they appear to be."

The government is speaking to teachers and heads about ways of improving the tests.

Children aged seven, 11 and 14 are sitting Sats tests across England.

The results of the tests for 11 year olds are used to compile league tables.

The results of the tests on seven year olds are published by the schools in their annual reports or letters to parents, but the data is not published nationally.

But many parents and teachers complain the tests for seven and 11 year olds are too stressful for the children and also narrow the curriculum because teachers concentrate just on the areas pupils will be tested in.

The biggest teaching union - the National Union of Teachers (NUT) - has voted for a boycott of all the tests next year.

E-mails sent to BBC News Online reflect strong criticism of the tests, especially those taken by seven year olds in English and maths.

The NUT says pressure to scrap the tests is growing.

"We are hopeful there could be movement," a spokeswoman said.

"There is a background of support for scrapping them from beyond teaching, from the position taken in Wales and the attitudes of parents which would make it easier to abandon the tests at Key Stage 1 (for seven year olds)."

Your views

E-mails sent recently to BBC News Online highlight the pressures children find themselves under.

One mother from South Yorkshire said her 11-year-old son's school sent letters out to some parents warning them their children would not be allowed on a school journey unless they got down to work for their Sats.

She said previously, the school had never complained about her son's attitude.

"Some of the children feel under extreme pressure because of the atmosphere of tension Sats testing has caused," she wrote.

"My child has spent his evenings crying and has not slept properly in fear that he would not do well in his Sats exams. This has left me furious.

"Although I believe that the progress of the children should be monitored, the pressure comes because the results of Sats are published and is a reflection on the school's teaching abilities."

'Tests are easy'

Sheila Butler, from Swindon e-mailed to say: "How cruel and unjust it is to put young children under so much pressure.

"An incident at my nephew's school yesterday just proves this - a healthy 11 year old vomited in front of everyone as he was so nervous about his Sats he was about to take.

"Is this really what childhood is about? "

But another parent, Ruth Hickmott, e-mailed to say her 6-year-old daughter said the Sats were easy.

"We have had experience of two schools operating Sats for seven year olds and neither have given us any grief," she said.

"The school does the worrying. The teachers are very caring and very professional and succeed in making it a game for the children."

Celtic fringe

The various unions involved in teaching are getting together to try to find a common approach for discussions with the government on testing.

Eamonn O'Kane, the general secretary of the second biggest teachers' union - the NASUWT - thinks the answer is to get the government to look at the experience of the "Celtic fringe" - Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland .

National tables are no longer published in Northern Ireland or Wales.

In England the Department for Education does not publish league tables as such - that is done by the news media.

Mr O'Kane believes the unions will make more progress with the government if they do not call for the tests to be scrapped but concentrate instead on the publication of results.

It is the publication of Sats results in league tables which many people believe creates the pressure and unions involved in education are united in their opposition to them.

Not everyone is opposed to the tests.

The government says they have been a driving force behind the improvement in standards in primary schools.

The pressure group the Campaign for Real Education is also in favour of them.

Katie Ivens, from the group, said: "The tests are needed to protect the framework to ensure children learn.

"Otherwise we will go back to the old system where primary school was a lovely and enjoyable experience where children played and were creative but didn't learn."