Test 'fiasco' as papers leaked
Parents and teachers' unions publish leaked exam paper and marking notes, as campaign intensifies to boycott tests
COMPULSORY tests for pupils in the last year of primary school have turned into a "fiasco", a teachers' union has claimed, after the exam paper was leaked online.
Some 800,000 pupils in the CM2 year group are taking the tests in French and maths this week, which parents and teachers say should be scrapped because of their timing.
Two websites published the leaked test and the marking notes yesterday - the Meuse branch of teaching union Snuipp-FSU and a parents' group in the Haute-Savoie.
Parents' union FCPE supported the initiative and spread word of the leak by email to its members. Parents at a school in Paris printed the documents and handed them out at the school gates.
Education minister Luc Chatel said the leak was "unacceptable and irresponsible" and said he had not ruled out taking legal action against whoever was behind it.
One teaching union, SE-Unsa, said the tests were turning into a "fiasco".
Parents and teachers believe the tests are a "profound mistake". They say it does not make sense for a child to be evaluated in the middle of a school year on topics they have yet to learn.
The tests are to evaluate children's level in French grammar, spelling and basic maths such as decimals and mental arithmetic.
Mr Chatel said the exams were necessary and there was no question of cancelling them at this late stage.
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