Literacy news
Primary schools face tougher targets
6 Mar 2013
Hundreds more primary schools in England could be labelled as underperforming as the government raises its test result targets.
Schools Minister David Laws has said that next year schools will need to have 65% of pupils achieving the expected levels in English and maths, up from 60%.
This would mean hundreds more schools being brought below the minimum level. There are 476 schools below the 60% threshold. But a Department for Education spokesman says that past experience suggests results will improve when targets are set higher.
Mr Laws said:
Many of our children are leaving primary school without having secured the basics in the 3Rs. They then go on to struggle at secondary school.
Christine Blower of the National Union of Teachers said:
This move is more about forcing primary schools into academy conversion than it is about 'standards'
Primary schools have shown little interest in the government's academy programme. It is shocking that a government policy which has been roundly rejected for sound educational and practical reasons is being foisted on schools by which ever desperate means the government can think up.
Read the full article at BBC Education.
Most read
Related content
- Will the Olympic Games inspire a nation of readers? in Blogs by Jonathan Douglas
- Commission finds three quarters of schools have boys falling behind in reading in Media centre
- Tom Palmer Euro 2012 blog, part three: Literacy begins at home in Blogs by Tom Palmer
- Tom Palmer Euro 2012 blog, part two: Confessions of a school-visiting author in Blogs by Tom Palmer
- Help! There’s a boy in my class! in Blogs by Jim Sells
