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Basic maths and English test dropped
Tim Ross02.04.09
Ministers today abandoned plans to raise standards in basic maths and English — 24 hours after figures showed thousands of children were failing to master the “three Rs”.
The Government's exams agencies have been working on moves to make a new course in literacy and numeracy for daily life a compulsory part of all GCSEs from next year.
The plan, announced by former education secretary Ruth Kelly, would have required teenagers to pass a “functional skills” test in order to score a C grade or better in maths and English GCSEs.
But schools minister Jim Knight said more work was needed before such a “hurdle” could be introduced to exams.
Exam boards feared that making functional skills a compulsory part of GCSEs would seriously lower the national pass rate as fewer pupils achieved A*-C grades.
Yesterday, Sats results showed one in four pupils left primary school unable to read, write and add up to the level expected of their age group.
Reader views (4)
HI BAISC HOW ARE YOU TODAY WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW
- Wynonna Kaufusi, ORANGE COUNRTY
So, "lets not test them because they'll fail and make us look bad" Yep, that's a viable strategy for improvement. Sort of like "lets change the capacity on the trains to stop these overcrowding reports"
But hey, check out that British, Indian, Muslim, Arab, Christian lesbian romantic comedy....
- Trunk, US
No wonder the children of the U.K. are giving such poor results on tests when Brown & Co are all over the map on what should be taught -- one day this, and the next day that. Educational policies should be set to last for a decade, not be changed every few days.
- Phil Jones, London UK
Even Labour don't want to admit how bad our education system is - so they drop the tests. We are failing our children - our future - if we don't equip them we the necessary skills to read, write and be able to do maths.
This is dire!!!
- Rupert, London
