Education Minister Milton Scott has responded to concerns about his plans to test six-year-olds on the Island.

He said it was not the test that was important - but what was done with the results.

The Bermuda Union of Teachers (BUT) has raised concerns over whether or not testing such young children would be beneficial.

General secretary Mike Charles fears it could lower the self-esteem of children who do not perform well on the day, and said the cons of using the US TerraNova test far outweighed the pros, therefore it should not be used.

And he said at six-years-old, it is too soon to see if a child is remedial or not. Youngsters develop at different stages, but at rapid rates, so somebody who is behind at six, could be ahead of his peers at seven.

But Sen. Scott said the test results would be used along with on-going monitoring to see if progress was being made, and where additional help was needed.

He added: "The Ministry's goal is to make good decisions from testing evidence, taking into account the possibility that testing results are not perfect. It is not about labelling students.

"The data is used along with classroom assessment evidence to find out if students are making adequate progress. If they are not, then something will be done to help those students.

"The Ministry is committed to providing good teaching to students. We will collect evidence early enough so that students do not fall behind.

"Good quality early teaching is much more effective and economical than re-mediation later. Every instruction dollar spent at age six can save five re-mediation dollars at age ten."

Primary two students are believed to be taking the TerraNova test sometime during the next couple of weeks. It is thought some may have already sat them.

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