The primary teachers union says the Government's new school tests won't make a difference.  

The Government's introducing phonics checks done after 20 weeks of schooling and repeated at 40 weeks.  

Progression monitoring on reading, writing, and maths will also be introduced for children in Years 3 through 8, and done twice a year.  

NZEI president Mark Potter told Mike Hosking teachers already assess, analyse, and use that to inform their teaching. 

He says there's not that many that don't use these tests, but if they don't, they'll have other assessments that give similar information. 

LISTEN ABOVE