Literacy news

School pupils to face new progression measures

9 Nov 2010

New "readiness to progress" measures will be introduced at ages five and 11 to ensure children have the reading, writing and arithmetic skills required to move on to the next stage of schooling. In addition, a new "basics measure" is also to be introduced for pupils at age 16.

An outline of these steps has been set out in the new business plan recently published by the Department for Education.

The new assessment for five-year-olds is expected to be based on the Early Years Foundation Stage profile, which has been criticised as requiring too much formal learning too soon. It is currently under review by Minister for Children and Families Sarah Teather.

The new measure for 11-year-olds will be designed to ensure they have the basic command of the "three Rs" that they need to be able to progress to secondary school, a department spokesman said.

It comes after Education Secretary Michael Gove announced last week an official review of Sats tests at the end of primary school, known as Key Stage 2.

About a quarter of primary schools in England boycotted the tests last year, saying they objected to the way the results were used in league tables, and led schools to "teach to the test" too much.

Mr Gove said: "Raising standards and narrowing gaps are the central goals of the government's education policy.

"We must continue to allow parents to know how their local primary schools are performing.”                           

The business plan also pledges to give parents more details about schools generally to support the school choice process.

Consultation has already begun on the new "readiness to progress" measures, with the results due to be published in April 2011.

Read more on the BBC website.

Tags: Adults, Early years sector, Schools & teaching

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