Education shake-up to include changes to testing

13 April 2012

The Government is to consider scrapping the national tests children in England take at 11 and 14, it has emerged.

Reports say ministers are proposing that pupils should take shorter but more frequent tests when teachers feel individual pupils are ready. The idea will be piloted for two years in 10 areas from September.

Read more... • Outrage as cabinet minister enrols child in £15,000 a year private school

• Ruth Kelly named as Labour minister sending a child to private school

Education Secretary Alan Johnson is publishing a series of education reforms which are also expected to include intensive one-to-one lessons for pupils who struggle in English and maths.

The proposals could also herald radical changes to the way schools are ranked in league tables.

The Government's latest education reforms will be published just days before new GCSE figures, which are set to show that most pupils have not mastered the three Rs by the time they reach 16, are released.

The focus of Mr Johnson's announcement is expected to be on ensuring that all pupils make progress at school, with a new drive on literacy and numeracy.

On Thursday, league table figures are expected to show that dozens of previously highly regarded schools have been failing to teach many of their pupils basic literacy and numeracy.

The Government's GCSE league tables were reformed so that this year all schools will be judged on how many of their pupils get five C grades in subjects which must include English and maths.

In previous years, schools have been measured on how many teenagers get Cs in any five subjects. Experts feared this enabled many schools to "play the system" by entering pupils for easier exams.

Provisional figures showed that only 46 per cent of pupils in England scored five Cs in GCSE subjects including English and maths last year.

At present, pre-GCSE national tests consist of children across the country being assessed at the end of each national curriculum "key stage": by their teachers when they seven, and through tests in English, maths and science when they are 11 and 14.

Officials envisage the pilot involving two test opportunities each year, in December and in May or June.

Teachers would enter any pupils they felt were ready to move up to the next national curriculum level.

The BBC reports that Mr Johnson said previously he wanted a debate about possible alternatives to national tests, about which he had a "genuinely open mind".

He said: "Should we look at schools in terms of the overall numbers of pupils making progress at each stage?

"Should we move over time to a system where all pupils are expected to progress by at least two levels, say, in each key stage in reading, writing and maths?"

Currently targets and league tables focus on the percentages of pupils in schools achieving, for example, five C grades at GCSE.

But Mr Johnson said in November that the tables and targets were too "narrow".

He suggested that a new measure may need to be introduced to focus on children's progress, rather than just their final results.

The Government's announcements follow a major report last week on the future of teaching in English state schools.

Christine Gilbert, now Ofsted's chief inspector, said education must be "personalised" for the needs of individual children if standards are to rise.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, welcomed the idea of focusing on children's progress rather than just results.

"It makes more sense," he said.

"It is a more intelligent form of accountability for the success of schools to be measured according to the progress of all pupils."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in