Angel Harrison BBC News education correspondent
Head teachers have voted for a boycott of this year’s Sats tests due to be taken by 11-year-olds in England in a few weeks’ time. In ballots of the National Association of Head Teachers and some members of the National Union of Teachers, 64% of those voting backed the action. Union leaders say they are pleased but will take a final decision on whether the action goes ahead next week. These national tests, in maths and English, are only taken in England. The union balloted members who are head teachers or deputy heads. A toal of 24,699 people were balloted and overall the turnout was 64%. Together, the two unions represent heads in about 80% of England’s 17,000 primary schools. The unions say the tests are bad for children’s education – because teachers are forced to “teach to the test” and concentrate so much on the “three Rs” that other subjects are squeezed out of the curriculum. They are also deeply opposed to the league tables drawn up from the results of the tests. Mick Brookes, general secretary of the NAHT, said: “This is a significant result for the NAHT, we have not conducted a national ballot in a quarter of a century.

Margaret Morrissey of the Parentsoutloud.com website said she was in favour of a boycott. “We fully support the teacher unions’ vote to boycott Sats tests and hope politicians will now listen to the majority voice of parents and teachers,” she said.

The unions want the Sats to be replaced with teacher assessment. Teachers are assessing their pupils all the time – measuring what they can do and saying which level they are working at. In England, they already have to report their assessments of children in the last year of primary school to the government. not agree to abolish the tests. The tests were abolished in Wales and Northern Ireland and have never been taken in Scotland.

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