What were they protesting about? There were many things; some of these things have worried teachers for the last two or three years. National standards are still a concern. Some teachers say that national standards will label some children as failures. Another concern is that different teachers judge the national standards in different ways. A third concern is that the government wants to make league tables which show the schools failures. Also, more time is now spent on those subjects which are tested like reading, writing and mathematics and less time on other subjects like science, social studies, art and music.

　　Perhaps the main concern is that the government wants to set up charter schools. These will be private and many will be run by religious groups. Teachers are worried about time spent on religious education and about government money going to private schools.

　　Listen to August 3rd 2012 to hear more about charter schools and October 28th 2009 to hear more about national standards.

　　Vocabulary

　　concern – things that worry people

　　league tables – lists of all schools which show the number of students who have passed the standards