News
Four in 10 children fail to hit Sats targets
31 Jul 2010
This year it is predicted that four in 10 children will fall short of Sats targets in the three-Rs. However, teaching unions have described the result as "flawed".
Exam results released next week are set to show that nearly 40 per cent of 11-year-olds failed to hit national targets in reading, writing and mathematics combined at the end of primary education.
A quarter of English primary schools boycotted the exams. Teachers at more than 4,000 schools refused to administer tests in the three-Rs over claims that they narrow the curriculum and force teachers into pressurising pupils to pass.
Education Secretary Michael Gove has proposed a review of Sats, admitting “flaws with the current testing system”, but will continue with the publication of next week’s results and the continuation of the tests next year despite risks of further industrial action from teaching uinons.
Gove says:
“While we work with others to improve and strengthen the tests, it is crucial that there is no gap in information provided to parents, pupils and teachers next year.”
This year’s figures are expected to reveal that just over 60 per cent of 11-year-olds reached Level 4 – the average for their age – in reading, writing and mathematics combined. Some one in seven of the estimated 450,000 pupils are predicted to have gained the higher Level 5 in the three papers
Data published by the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, which administers Sats, shows that pupils could gain a Level 4 in reading with between 18 and 30 out of 50, while the writing pass mark was between 25 and 36 out of 50. Pupils had to gain at least 46 per cent in maths to pass.
However, this year’s results could be affected by the boycott of Sats, which took place in 4,005 out of 15,515 state primary schools. Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), which led the action alongside the National Association of Head Teachers, says:
“By uniting, the actions of over 4,000 schools will be sufficient to render this year's league tables an irrelevance…these discredited tests must end. We hope that the Government's forthcoming review of testing will therefore provide a valuable forum for debate, rather than being constrained.”
Unions have called for Sats to be replaced by a less formal system of “teacher assessment”, in which staff assess pupils’ performance in the classroom and assign marks. Also, for the first time this year, teacher assessment scores will be published alongside official Sats results for 11-year-olds.
The publication will reignite mixed feelings over the controversial tests. However teachers maintain that Sats fail to reflect pupils’ abilities accurately.
Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.
