Knowledge-based resistance: the role of professional organisations in the struggle against statutory assessments in England

Figures & data

Figure 1. MTAS network.

Source: Author’s own elaboration based on extensive internet searches, conference attendance and interview data.

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Box 1: Fine points Well, a perennial issue that raises its head is whether More Than A Score should support parents who want to boycott SATs. And it’s a very, very thorny issue because we recognise the difficult position that everybody is in. You don’t want to alienate headteachers by turning parents against them, and teachers often feel powerless and they feel they can’t speak their mind. And parents want to be supported but they don’t know the law. And if we say, yes, take your children out, we put headteachers in a very difficult position because they legally have to do the tests. So we keep talking about, ugh, we have parents groups within More Than A Score saying the teachers have to do it, it’s got to come from teachers, and yet the teaching groups are saying, no, it’s got to be parent power. And so how do we try to maintain the discussion and the openness and allow each of those groups to feel that they can take some action that isn’t going to be seen as negative or antagonistic by the others? So, you know, should we, for instance, put out a paper that details parents’ legal rights in terms of withdrawing their children? So that’s a very discrete question: should we or should we not do that? Should we release this video that is describing a group of parents who have decided to withdraw their children from the exams? And if we put that on the More Than A Score website does that mean that’s what we’re calling for? And what we’ve tended to do, to agree after lots of discussion, is that the parents groups within it, within More Than A Score, who really want to support parents to withdraw children, will produce the information, will help write it, will look at it with them, and they will put it out under their name of the member group and on their website, but More Than A Score will have a news thing saying that this exists and here’s a link to It. So we’re signposting people to it without putting the More Than A Score letterhead on it. So it’s those kind of fine points. (Chair of TACTYC)

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Box 2: a permanent boundary-spanner So, the More Than A Score meeting know that I’m coming up with an alternative to SATs, with the BERA expert group – which you may not know anything about any of this. The BERA expert group were the ones who suggested taking the baseline report to the parliamentary briefing, that’s why I spoke to Nick about it and made sure I went. And I also went because I wanted to have an opportunity to speak to politicians about our idea of an alternative to SATs. I think there were 14 parliamentary people turned up; some of them were lords. So, Christine Blower was there; she’s in the House of Lords, she used to be secretary of the NUT (National Teachers Union). I did talk … I made sure I got to talk to Jack Dromey about it – but that’s not to do with More Than A Score, all right? So, I am a person who has substantive interests in the connections between policy, research and practice, who has a trajectory within BERA in which I’ve tried to do something around that kind of space and make it … make the possibility of useful interventions happening. Now, my notion of a useful intervention isn’t that we find the evidence and pass it to government and assume that they will do something on that. You know, I’m not naïve. So I bring the, kind of, the wealth of understanding that I have developed as an academic from working that particular seam over time into a room with me wherever it is I go. I mean, it means as an academic I’m very oddly placed, I am a permanent boundary-spanner. (…) So, at the parliamentary briefing, we get a practical dilemma in the room because heads want to know what are they meant to do to parents who wish to withdraw. Parents want our advice, so some of our campaign groups are parent-led. We know this … we can never give clear advice, the union can’t give clear advice to the heads, it’s very conflicted, so I’m sitting there with a guy, this Scottish guy, who’s a backbench shadow education spokesman, and I find myself saying … he’s saying, “I want to ask a question. What can I ask about?” And I ended up having a conversation with him about withdrawing, you know, “The key thing for us, can you ask a question about the rights of parents to withdraw?” you know. And, kind of, because we’ve also been involved with Jen Persson, from Defend Digital Me, who’s … you know, you just kind of get little hotspots bubble up. Now, out of that, I don’t know if that conversation started with me in the room or whether other people were having that conversation anyway, but the biggest outcome from the parliamentary briefing was that Jack Dromey, Caroline Lucas, Layla Moran are all signing up to try and give parents rights to withdraw their kids from baseline.

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Box 3: Early Years Sector Coalition Early Education has 900 individual members and 400 organisational members with multiple practitioner contacts The Early Years Alliance has 14,000 members The National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) represents 60,000 practitioners Keeping Early Years Unique (KEYU) represents 47,000 practitioners, leaders, parents/carers, lecturers, advisors, consultants. Early Childhood Studies Degrees Network (ECSDN) represents HE institutions which deliver Early Childhood Studies degrees and their equivalent to 20,000 students TACTYC: The Association for Professional Development in Early Years has over 160 individual members and a reach of 21,000+ website national and international visitors. Sector Endorsed Foundation Degrees in Early Years Professional Association (SEFDEY) represents c.1000 staff and students across 70 institutions The Froebel Trust has over 1,000 associates Montessori St Nicholas represents 4,700 Montessori teachers Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship represents 500 Early Childhood practitioners British Early Childhood Education Research Association (BECERA) reaches several hundred early years researchers and practitioners The Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) reaches several thousand early years researchers and practitioners The Early Childhood Forum (ECF) has 21 member organisations each of which has hundreds, some thousands of members (some of which are also members of the Coalition). From: https://tactyc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Press-release-coalition-comments-on-the-non-statutory-guidance-7-9-20-1.docx