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The number of 11-year-olds passing Sats in English has fallen for the first time since the exam was introduced in 1995, the Department for Children admitted today.
An estimated 115,000 children, one in five, left primary school last month two years behind their classmates, unable to read and write to the required standard.
The children who took Sats this year were born during Tony Blair's first term in office, which he won on his famous promise to prioritise “education, education, education”. When Gordon Brown became Prime Minister two years ago he too declared: “Education is my passion.”
But critics said today's results showed the Government's school policies had run out of steam. Shadow Children's Secretary Michael Gove said: “This is the final proof that Labour, elected on a platform to raise standards in education, has failed to deliver.”
The Government has spent £2 billion on improving literacy and numeracy since 1997, only to see grades stall in recent years and now fall.
The figures brought fresh calls for ministers to scrap Sats and seek a new approach to primary education. The results from the Department for Children show:
* A one per cent drop this year to 80 per cent in the proportion of pupils passing English Sats at Level 4, the grade expected of 11-year-olds.
* No improvement in maths and science since last year, with 79 per cent of pupils reaching the grade expected of their age group in numeracy and 88 per cent in science.
* In London, 39 per cent of pupils — about 30,000 children — failed to pass English and maths at Level 4.
* Ministers said pupils who did not pass the tests at the Government's target Level 4 were not illiterate or innumerate and claimed that Level 3 was acceptable.
Soon after Tony Blair took power ministers introduced a national literacy strategy, in which every primary school child spent an hour a day learning the basics of reading and writing.
Almost 580,000 children across England took the tests in English, maths and science in May. Fewer children achieved the top grade of Level 5 this year in reading, writing and science, bringing claims that schools were failing to stretch the brightest pupils. Boys struggled with writing, in particular, with only 60 per cent passing their writing Sats at the expected Level 4, compared with 75 per cent of girls.
Dr Bethan Marshall, senior lecturer in English education at King's College London, said there were “major flaws” with Sats and called for them to be scrapped.
She said: “Boys tend to write very pithily and don't go into an awful lot of detail and the way Sats are marked tends to favour pupils who put in everything bar the kitchen sink.”
The Government is planning an expansion of small group teaching and one-to-one catch up classes. Schools Minister Diana Johnson said she was disappointed by the results but stressed that pupils who attained Level 3 — normally expected of nine or 10-year-olds — could still read and write.
What the levels mean
A child who achieves Level 3:
Can read independently
Has good literal comprehension
Can find main points in a piece of writing
Can write a sound sentence
Has simple style, but clear and correct
Level 4 child:
Is active reader – can infer, predict, visualise
Reads “between the lines”
Gets the point, moral and message
Writes extended sentences using commas
Chooses words for effect
Level 5 pupil:
Recognises writing techniques and bias
Writing is well-organised and paragraphed
Uses standard English as appropriate
Composes complex sentences, can use a subordinate clause
Adapts writing to suit audience and purpose
Reader views (69)
This evaluation is percentage wise incorrect, I'll explain.
My 17 year old daughter took an IQ test when she was 7 and scored only 85. She was more or less categorized "Idiot", with a poor future. A number of years later, through retesting, she scored an average IQ and was found to have DYSLEXIA. As a concerned parent, I felt miserably let down by the Dutch education system.
It is highly probable that the UK education system has not, and does not take DYSLEXIA in to "Seriooss Consedirashon. When I was 7 years old, I was punished for writing with my left hand, but did boxing at school and won nearly every fight.
A child's family background and happiness will determine how well the child performs at school.
- Stevie, Haarlem Netherlands
Life in Lielabour today,s Britain.......Not good is it....
- Themanoftruth, United Kingdom
Bloody hell! Results keep chasing us down no matter how much money we chuck at it. Better drop the standards again.
- Grahame P, Bristol, UK
No-one has commented on the lamentable state of many teachers' literacy and mathematical abilities. I have sometimes had to correct my son's teacher's grammar and maths and despair! If they do not understand the basics, how can our children?
And this is not a state school either!
- Daphne, London
Remember what we have been paying for - "Education, Education, Education"
- Very Very Angry At Paying Tax For Mp'S Expeses, Home Counties
Hardly surprising when the leader of the largest party, (who isn't and, cannot claim to be our elected Prime Minister) mutters in some kind of dialect which is almost unintelligible to native English speakers. This is presumably to hide the fact that whatever he says is either fantasy, rubbish, or lies.
- Lezli Taubler, London/UK
ball,s by name is anyone surprised.
- George, france
Ronnie UK: Just to let you know there is no apostrophe in MPs. MPs, in the sense that you are using it, is plural. Punctuation is something else that pupils are not taught these days!
- S Gray, Barnet UK
And this is the same Ed Balls that wants to destroy Home Education in the UK, where 100% of the students coming out of it are not only literate, but well read also. What a total FARCE of a man.
- Frank Evans, London
David, anyone who really thinks Economics is a subject to be taken seriously really needs to study psychology.
- Richard Kennard, Welling
NuLiebour transformed our education system into an Orwellian social engineering project. Frankly, I'm surprised that the number of illiterate kids leaving primary school isn't higher.
Education is, of course, a shared responsibility between parents and the state. The problem we face now is that politically-correct NuLiebour have absolved their burgeoning underclass of all responsibility for anything, including bringing up their own children.
As someone esle has pointed out, it was always their intention to have the client state outnumber the productive sector, thus ensuring plenty of life long labour voters.
- Keith Lonsdale, Doncaster
The UK, third world education, third world health service, third world public transport, no real surprise as we have a third world goverment that thinks the countries money belongs to them.
- David, london
Gareth, of Hackney,
Just to say there is no word in English language as can't .... ?.
- John L., Scarborough N.YKS. England. U.K.
Why is our Ed looking so pleased with himself? He is the one in the Cabinet who can read and write!! Pity he cannot add up too.
- Colin Macpherson, Gramat France
The Socialist/NuLiebor project can only exist if it has an uneducated client-class.
Looks like they've finally achieved something after 12 years.
- Ged, Blackheath, London
Yes, that would be 'other essential items' like a house, Sue.
I'm trying to teach my son to read in English - it's a darn sight harder than you'd think. Although I believe parents should do as much as they can to help their children, it is not unreasonable to expect that they go to school to learn it: the whole point of having State education is that children of all backgrounds with or without parents who can help should all get the same education. Why should kids without home support be left behind? My son, who is 6, barely spoke French a year ago: by the end of the Easter holidays this year he became a fluent reader of very complicated text thanks, largely, to a highly disciplined education, dedicated teachers and extra support in-class and after school (organised by his teacher) as well as me helping him at home. The French don't do 'assembly' (so they start lessons at 8.30) and if you want to do a lot of sport or any music or drama, you go to seperate institutions outside of school. They start school part-time at age 3, learning who is the boss and how not to beat each other up whilst playing, then at 4 they learn the foundations of alphabet and numbers, at 5 they learn basic phonics and maths. By 7 they are expected to write in joined-up script and to read both script and print, upper and lower case, with no mistakes. In other words: the teachers command respect and the children learn the 3 'R's: not done in the UK since 1970.
- Roz, France
I don't know where commenters get these made up statistics come from, but they are totally fictitious:
"4 out of 5 under 11's were not born in England" NOT TRUE!
"66% of pupils that do not speak English as a first language in the najority of schools in London" RUBBISH!
"1 in 5 school leavers can't speak English" NONSENSE!
These numbers are completely false and just fuel xenophobic rants.
- Nolan, Londonist
Truly amazing how people can take a minor setback and use it to wallow in miserable self loathing.
Attempting to make out all kids are feral and illiterate (or worse, foreign) based on a minor negative in a report, that had it been positive would have been rejected out of hand, is a particularly foul new low, even for the braindead Daily Mail readers that seem to like to spam this site with their intellectual pollution.
- James, London
100% of the labour mp's failed this test , they couldnt get the economy or the migrants to add up !!
- Ronnie, UK
Edyewcashun, edyoukation, edgewekaychun...
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one
That's a good sign as 4 out of 5 under 11's were not born here that's progress init.
- Steve, England
Aren't we in some difficulty in expecting all parents to teach their children to read? If many of the last generation couldn't read properly on leaving school - which I believe to be the case - how are they going to be able to teach their own children to read, a situation that I suspect is worsening, not getting better.
- Captain Black Of The Mysterons, London, England
H'mm
Level 4 includes 'Reads “between the lines”'
Level 5 includes 'Recognises writing techniques and bias'
Could it be that the party of spin over substance actually does not want people with these skills when it comes to reading election manifestos, government press releases, health information campaigns etc.?
- The Other Jim, London
And yet we have 66% of pupils that do not speak English as a first language in the najority of schools London, coincidence anyone?
- Dirk Diggler, Soho, London
My my, who would have thought. With the extremely high levels of immigration that English would be suffering in schools. I am sure the Liberal-Loony-Lefty powers that be will claim no connection.
- Frank, Home Counties, England.
With success like this Ed Balls must be the man to run the country after that other great and very experienced minister G.B.
- Tonyjohnson, Hythe Kent
Many immigrant children are more successful in school than children who were born in the UK - they and their parents generally have more motivation to work hard than the kids born here who think they should have everything handed to them on a plate.
- Nolan, Londonist
So much for Blair's much vaunted cries of 'Education, Education, Education' some years ago. Under Labour, our education sysem appears to be going backwards to Victorian times. Its so 'cringe making!'
Too much tinkering, fiddling, political interference and targets. Of course Labour's Education spokesperson will just parrott the usual 'Blah' about 'Value for Money'.
It all truly beggars belief.
- Uncle Vanya, East Anglia Area UK
Richard Kennard really is a cretin. I'd understand querying the value of Media Studies as a shallow and narrow subject requiring dubious intellectual skills, but write off Economics, Psychology, English and History as fatuous? This mug must really have left school at 5yrs old and headed straight down the coal mine, emerging only to pick up his copy of Living Marxist.
Really, Richard, if you spoke of what you know, really know from experience rather than bigoted preconceptions, then you'd really have little to say. Your tiny mind, rich only in prejudice, is a perfect example of why an education is a helpful thing for productive members of society to improve life. All that stuff you're so envious of - almost all of it will be a direct result of people using their minds and study to develop useful ideas. That includes your pie and chips, the PC you're blogging on, the money you want, the banks you put it in, the Guardian you try and read, the roads you drive on - basically your whole reality. Deal with it.
- David, London
Most can not speak English how can you expect them to read it?
- Gary, Brentwood
An education system overwhelmed with unwanted immigrants and a teaching system destroyed by left wing ideology. What do you expect but a rapid decline in literacy?
Balls then has the balls to dumb down pass rates at 16 and 18 and we are expected to believe we have an ever more successful education system. Lies and statistical lies!
- Richard, Nottingham
The SAT tests themselves have been dumbed down year after year to match the steady decline in students' abilities. All this demonstrates is that the Government isn't dumbing down the exam content quickly enough!
- Phil Jones, London UK
My three Brit nephews got taken to France with their family, to a tough educational system. One year later, they spoke/wrote perfect French (from scratch). Only the eldest was back-classed (wisely) for a year, to make sure he could cope with the advanced exams. Try harder, people, if you come to Britain.
- Steve, London, England
Jimbob, I'll take your child prodigy and raise my own which at 5 can speak English, French, Italian, Mandarin and langue des signes française.
No doubt, as an immigrant herself, she is dragging down the rest of her school that speaks English, French, Italian and LSF equally well, and all because her mother taught her Mandarin.
- Escobar-Alop-Lop, Camden County
I can only speak from my families experience. We are a typical middle class white family 2.4 children etc. We spend lots of quality time with our children and they also have a great Dad who plays football with them, takes them out on their bike and also to the park.
Yes, they do watch some tv and play on computers and the playstation. We always share family meals. They do not have a tv in their bedroom. They go to a good primary school within a nice part of Lonon/Middlesex. Having said all of this my 11 year old only achieved a level 3 in maths (level 4 in other subjects). As parents we have spent a lot of time trying to help him with his maths and have even had him tutored. He is not ‘special needs’ – he just struggles with maths which with continued support we hope to help him progress. We do not blame anything or anybody it is just something he finds difficult.
- Helen, London
Yes. Parents nowadays have a lot to answer for, but this one cannot be blamed on them. Learning to read and write is the very least we should expect from our education system.
Yet another mess caused by this clueless, meddling government. What a dreadful state this country is in.
- Xtremely Worried, Britian (Formerly Great)
I'm quite shocked at the ignorance of youngsters nowadays. There were tried and true ways of teaching kids how to read, write and spell, but it seems that these methods are no longer used. Parents also have to take some of the blame as just like the failure of any discipline of their kids, you rarely see a parent with a book helping to teach their kids to read. Probably too busy working so they can afford that new dishwasher or car and other essential items!
- Sue, Orpington, Kent
How many of these 'failed' children
(a) have parents that did not complete their education and left with poor literacy and numeracy skills?
(b) were born to schoolchildren some of whom do not understand that parenting involves spending quality time teaching their children?
(c) come from families who do not spend quality time with their children when they are not at school? Education is very much an 14-16 hour a day thing.
(d)came to the UK from a non English speaking country (and not able to speak English on arrival) in the 2-4 years before finishing primary school?
(e) were born prematurely - a higher proportion of whom have special educational needs? This group is increasing year on year as medical science finds ways to help premature babies survive.
(f) are from English speaking families but in schools where more than 50% of the children in the school do not speak English as a first language?
This is not a political point scoring issue this is ensuring that support is provided to those that need it and children placed in the right class for their abilities - putting all abilities together for all subjects is a recipe for disaster. Funding should be made available for children from non English speaking countries/households to have specialist teaching to concentrate on their language/numeracy in English. Funding available to help young parents understand how to help their children, etc....
- Andy, london
parents must be shamed and blamed.They sit with their children on sofas, watching junk tv, and scoffing junk food. result? another generation of illiterate, obese state dependants.
- Mark Armstrong, london. uk
So only 60% have all three Rs and yet the government still wants to get 50% of all kids through a degree? That only leaves 10% of all kids who are literate but won't have degrees to do all the skilled roles that DON'T require a degree.
Would it be rude to point out that this is a stupid proposition?
Bring back Polys
- Ap, Bristol
I am shocked. Surely there is a way to blame white, middle class, pushy parents. No doubt Ed Balls will come up with a way.
- Jilly, London
I'm sorry this will sting some of you. But I place a lot of the blame on parents! From my personal experience, I have seen only a small percentage of parents pushing their kids and taking an active interest in their success. I confess to losing sleep over my two daughters from time to time even though one is still at Junior School. As a result of being 'pushed' and obviously due to their own commitment, both of my girls are high achievers.
- Sanjay, Hounslow, UK
If the teachers had their way we wouldn't even know how well children were performing in English as there would be no tests to report.
Given that the teachers use the excuse that they spend too much time teaching for the test as a reason to do away with SATs, they aren't doing too well.
- Frank, Portsmouth
Over 60% of prison inmates are functionally illiterate
- Alex C, London
Poor education equals 'skills shortages' equals 'need immigrants' equals votes for Labour.
- Mike Newland, London, England
Typically, a lot of people here are using this to bash and blame the Government, immigrants, Political Correctness etc., but what about the parents of children who cannot read? Do parents give time to read to their children instead of leaving them in front of the TV or PC screen? Do parents buy books for their child instead of a PSP? How about a trip to the local library instead of McDonalds? Could it be because, perhaps, many adults - who might also be parents - cannot read as well?
It is high time people stop blaming the Government, the world and its dog for everything and took a long hard look at themselves. If parents play more of an active role in their child's education (and I'm sure a good many do), more children would read.
- Mrmugambo, London, England
As a trainee teacher going into schools on placements I have noticed that the majority of children are from other countries and enter the education system purely based on their age and not on their ability. Therefore they are at a disadvantage from the other pupils who do know English and have lived here their whole lives. Perhaps extra lessons should be organised by the government to help these pupils if they are going to let them in the country. How are teachers meant to personalise each lesson to meet all the children's needs if some chidlren can't read, write or speak the language.
- Natalie, London
Who cares? They won't read anything anyway, but will stare at TV just like everyone else.
- Neil, London, London UK
John L., Scarborough; makes a good point; children do not all learn at the same rate, level, or pace etc; I personally learnt nothing at school; everything I know and learnt till this present day; came after leaving school etc.
In 1953 I failed my eleven plus exams; mainly because I was never taught anything; I remember looking at fractions and wondering what they were; at the age of 11 years etc.
Within 12 months of leaving school and going to night school, I shot to the top of the class due to a teacher that had a way of teaching that captured my imagination; and made learning seem simple and clear to my young mind; I owe him a lot; he gave me the tools to educate myself etc.
Do we need discipline in schools today; yes in my opinion?
Was I caned at school; yes lots of times; fives on each hand etc; ok the education was minimal even none existent you could say; but I learned when to stay silent, and when to fight back, listen to those worth listening to, and ignore those with nothing to say worth hearing etc.
So even in a bad school you still learn something; I learnt self discipline; probably the best thing I ever learnt in my long life.
- Mickinlondon, london.
I am not surprised by this. There are two main reasons; i) many parents are just not interested beyond criticising the school and ii) the schools lack discipline. A few years ago I knew a young boy who parents claimed he had “special needs”. He did not! In fact he was very bright, just a little mischievous. His parents would never spend any time reading to him preferring to watch 24x7 brain destroying TV like “shopping channels”. The school was totally “feminised” without a single male teacher so he lacked a role model and discipline. I did offer to give him some extra tuition and he was very keen that someone was willing to actually devote some time to him. His parents were also initially but then had second thoughts when a friend of theirs said that they could not believe somebody would give up their time for no reason. In fact the satisfaction of seeing a child make progress with the 3R’s is reason enough.
- Man U Fan, London
And resources are being directed to the wrong areas of education: university courses in fatuous pseudo-subjects like Psychology, Sociology, Media Studies, Economics and so forth; let alone useless arts subjects like History and English Literature. Anyone can study the latter by going to their local library - the shelves are packed with suitable reading material. To think that all those resources, which could benefit our primary schools, are being wasted on mindless students who are just following fashion and trying to please their bourgeois, status seeking parents.
- Richard Kennard, Welling
The blame lies with the multi-culture experiment. If you mix languages in schools you diluet the ability to speak one well.
Where English is not a first language this stream should be segrigated to alow those native speakers a chance to move ahead.
Instead of allowing the poor to rise they have held the better and more able back.
This government has wrecked the abilities, expectations and prospects of the children of the indiginous English speaking population for generations to come !
- Jim, London
Looking on the bright side McDonalds Won't be short of 5 star burger turners in the forseeable future.
Fortunately my little one lives in Denmark and at three years old speaks 3 languages. Can anyone top that?
- Jimbob, Kensington
Do parents take none of the blame? Something as simple as the inability to read should have been picked up and worked on by the time they leave primary school. The education system is a disgrace, but we have to take some responsibilty for our own children.
- Mark, London
"One in five primary school-leavers cannot read" yet by the time of their GCSE's they will all be getting A*s. It's sad as the truly gifted will not be recognised because this government is more interested in figure manipulating than a fair and just education system. Personally I am sick of politicians treating us like fools come exam results day. It can’t be that hard to teach a child basic English and Maths over 6 years!
- Paul, London
Rely to Rsaviour, London.
You don't know what your talking about you idiot, it is you that needs a good hard slap.
All children develope at different times of there lives, pushing young kids into exams at an early age creates problems and does not solve them. At my childs primary school the biggest factor was teacher changes through Ill health,moving on,or retirement,and many incoming temps have to try to start were others have left off, leaving the poor child sometimes in limbo.
If you are wanting to give a slap to someone, why not Ed Balls and his team at number 10.
- John L., Scarborough N.YKS. England. U.K.
Why is this a surprise when successive governments have dumbed down exams over a period of 25 years? It's all down to political correctness, children aren't allowed to have varying levels of intelligence, one child can never be more intelligent than another, if they are we should lower standards so they don't feel stupid. What a preposterous concept, it's no wonder we have so many foreign workers here, ours simply aren't fit for purpose having been failed by a moronic education system.
- Bob, Cheam
No surprise at all. Labour are the completely illogical party in all things education related. They have allowed a developed country to have some of the highest rates of adult illiteracy ever. it starts at Primary school. They then confuse and perpetuate the problem by saying 50% of people should go to university and also push apprenticeships in a start stop kind of way. All the parties have mucked up and around with education at various stages since the second world war, but this government is without doubt the worst. Ed Balls is a complete incompetent who is only interested in carrying on a silly class war that is decimating Children's employment chances. I'm ashamed of the education system, i really am.
- David S., Ealing
1 in 5 school leavers can't speak English.
- Gareth, Hackney
Kids need a good hard slap nowdays...too much nanny state cotton wool they are wrapped up in...ed balls talks rubbish he is an utter pratt..this country has gone to the dogs its just for rich and well off people...
- Rsaviour, london england
Equality Labour Government style.
We are all now equally stupid which gives us all the right of entry into UK's top Universities.
Thank you Labour for 13 years of incompetence.
- Joe, Thornton Heath, London, England
Yet another Nuliebour success story.
- David, Fleet UK
Education, edookashun, eduk8shn
- Darius, London UK
tractor sales up again!!!
- Gary, amersham
How is it a surprise that the English can no longer speak or write their own language properly ?
- Keith Price, Luton, England
Surely, this is because our schools are swamped with immigrants whose first language is not English?
- Richard Kennard, Welling
More and more children in London only speak English at school. Blame the parents!
- Mark, South-East London
Its not the size of the class that matters or the resources. Its the attitude discipline and behavior of children to education and learning. If that doesn't improve, then no amount of money you throw at education is going to help.
- Dhan Raj, Basildon
Who wants to bet that the pass rates will be at record highs and the government will seize on this as a great achievement?
Nothing to do with dumbing down of course.
- Frank, Home Counties, England.
