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Parents in the United Kingdom called for a boycott of the Standard Assessment Task (SAT) because of mental health concerns among students.
The organization Let Our Kids Be Kids, which aims to protect children from test-related pressure, urged parents to pull out their 10- to 11-year-old children from the SATs. The organization also wrote a letter that highlights issues on the tests. Parents can use this letter to request for their children’s withdrawal from the SATs or to notify headteachers that their children will not attend school due to their opposition to the tests.
Although the SATs are not a requirement for students, a high passing rate among takers means that teachers will receive a high performance-based salary. The government can also remove the management of schools that get low overall test scores. These circumstances may be the reasons why children are coerced into studying hard and doing a lot of schoolwork, even during holidays.
But according to School Standards minister Nick Gibb, the pressure from test-taking can result in anxiety among children. In fact, a 2017 report from The Key, which equips schools with leadership support, revealed that children tend to experience a breakdown during tests.
On a similar note, results of a survey conducted by the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers showed that test-related mental health problems often lead to self-harm and eating disorders.
Parents have long recognized these mental health concerns. In 2016, some parents even held a strike in order to withdraw their children from school for a day to express their disapproval of the SATs.