The union that represents Ontario’s public elementary teachers wants standardized testing put on hold for two years.

On Monday the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario called for a moratorium on grade three and grade six Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) testing.

“Something is very wrong when areas including science, history, social studies and the arts are getting sidelined in the race to get young students prepared for EQAO, which is focused solely on literacy and math,” ETFO President Sam Hammond said.

“Teachers told us EQAO testing does little to improve learning. It was originally set up to test the system as a whole, but now it is driving what gets taught in the classroom."

Annie Kidder of People for Education also thinks the tests are unnecessary and would like to see student assessments done through sample testing instead.

Ontario Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky insists the tests are an important way to gauge students’ progress and noted they’re only conducted twice in elementary schools.

With files from the Canadian Press