EDUCATION Secretary Michael Gove's decision to go ahead with tests for 11-year-olds next year has not gone down well with teachers in Bristol and South Gloucestershire.

Many schools did not run the National Curriculum Sats in English and maths this year after members of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and National Union of Teachers (NUT) voted to boycott them.

It looks likely that similar industrial action could be on the way for 2011 if Mr Gove continues to insist that the tests should be held.

Nina Franklin, Bristol divisional secretary and national senior vice president of the NUT, said plans were already being made to ballot members earlier so that people were not put in a position of having to "teach to the tests".

"We welcome the fact Mr Gove has said he will review the testing system. However, we remain firmly of the view that the tests are damaging and are of no use," she said.

More than half the primary schools in South Gloucestershire did not do the 2010 Sats and the president of the area's NAHT Chris Williams said he hopes at least as many will follow the same course of action next year.

"All the evidence suggests that teacher assessments are a more reliable guide than the poorly marked Sats papers of recent years," he said.

Mr Williams said official Government figures showed that 52 out of 83 eligible schools in South Gloucestershire – 63 per cent – did not submit test results to the Department for Education.

This meant that any attempt to create league tables of school performance would be meaningless.

Jon Barr, head of Meadowbrook Primary School in Bradley Stoke, said: "The boycott has allowed us to report on our Year 6 children's achievements this year accurately. We have not had to wait for poorly marked papers and re-mark them. We sent our teacher assessments out on Thursday to all our Year 6 families. In past years we have had to spend a fortnight checking the marking. In past years our parents have not been able to talk about the results at our summer parents' evening. This year they will be able to do that."

In Bristol, more than 20 out of 101 eligible schools boycotted the Sats this year.

But many of those who did run the tests expressed reservations and said they thought better ways could be found to assess and celebrate children's achievements.

Bristol Primary Heads' Association said there was tremendous pressure on schools and that measuring schools' performance by the results of two external tests a year for 11-year-olds was "distorting the educational experience" for children.

Announcing the 2011 tests, Mr Gove said: "I believe head teachers and teachers will agree the solution to strengthening the tests is to work together and agree on how they can be reformed.

"While we work to improve and strengthen the tests, it is crucial that there is no gap in information provided to parents, pupils and teachers next year."