National examinations on subjects such as history or geography should be replaced with tests on life skills such as walking and thinking, teachers’ leaders will say today.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers wants the national curriculum scrapped and the testing system abolished.

Martin Johnson, its acting deputy general secretary, said that teachers should be able to adapt the subject content of lessons according to local need and demand and to focus on teaching pupils skills they would need in adult life.

These would include “the full range of physical, personal and interpersonal, creative, ethical, social and political, learning and thinking, as well as academic skills”.

The new tests would assess essential skills such as manual dexterity and the ability to use tools, to cycle or to to walk in a variety of styles.

“There’s a lot to learn about how to walk,” Mr Johnson said. “If you were going out for a Sunday afternoon stroll you might walk in one way. If you are trying to catch the train you might walk in another way and if you are doing a day’s cliff walk you might walk in another way.

“We need a nation of people who understand their bodies and can use their bodies effectively.”

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