Lashing out against too much standardized testing may seem like an isolated problem in the U.S., but recent articles written by British journalists reveal similar criticisms of education in the U.K., too.

"Teachers are already horrified at what’s happening, and are fighting their own battle, when they’re not too exhausted from jumping through the government’s bureaucratic hoops,” said Steve Rose for The Guardian.

It sounds like it could be an excerpt from any given article from the Washington Post’s education section or a respected American educator’s blog, but alas, Rose is writing about the state of education in England.

"Literacy and numeracy are all that counts. If your child excels at art or music or dance or science or poetry or geography or history or critiquing retrograde educational dogma – tough. Doesn’t count,” Rose says.

If that couldn’t sound any more familiar, how about the words “boycott” and “pupil’s strike” when it comes to testing?

Substitute the words “opt-out” for “pupil’s strike” because they’re essentially the same thing. In England, just like in the U.S., parents are organizing movements in opposition to standardized testing by having their children sit them out entirely.

Teachers are on the same page as parents, too.

England’s educators took to Twitter last week to let The Guardian know how testing is going. According to many Tweets, it could be going better.

"While the texts were challenging (but not as difficult as some in [previous] years), the questions were downright devilish,” said one user.

“As a profession we know the testing system is flawed at present and we need to get through these to show just how much,” said another.

Just like here in America, it sounds like educators from other countries would like some more say in education affairs, as well.

Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

5/9/2016