Civitas Blog

On the day the Key Stage 2 Sats results are released, a new report from independent think-tank Civitas, Fast Track to Slow Progress, based on a nationwide survey of 107 secondary schools, reveals that 9 out of 10 secondary school teachers cannot rely on them:

• 90% of secondary school teachers surveyed have found the Key Stage 2 Sats results to be inconsistent with pupils' true abilities, this last school year
• 79% of secondary school teachers have found that up to a third of their Year 7 year-group's abilities have been lower than their Key Stage 2 Sats results, this last school year

Last month, Anastasia de Waal, Head of Civitas’ Family and Education Unit, undertook a nationwide telephone survey of secondary school teachers to ascertain how reliable and useful they considered current Sats tests (Standard Assessment Tests) taken by pupils in the final year of their primary schooling.

The results of the survey were published today and make for disturbing reading.

Superheroes are back with a vengeance. Following the recent spate of blockbuster movies, superheroes are sexy again and no longer the exclusive territory of geeks and superhuman-timewasters. However, the originality required to keep demanding audiences engaged has seen the definition of “superhero” extended to distortion...

Yesterday saw the publication of two conflicting accounts of how educational standards have fared under the present Labour administration. According to one account, standards had risen; according to the other, they had fallen. One account was that of Government ministers responsible for education. The other account was that of employers and university admissions tutors.

Test Questions:

1. Which account was given by whom?

2. For which account is there greater evidence, and what is that evidence?

This week has been the first week at secondary school for some - how will they have coped in a new secondary environment? Gathering from the an article in today's Times Education Supplement magazine, many will find the adjustment hard. Why? Because of the large size of many secondaries.

Statistics show that since 1997, the average secondary school is near 1000 pupils - and almost 1 in 10 secondaries have more than 1,500 pupils. Whilst, as the article argues, research on secondary school size is inclusive as to when a school is too large, a good size is thought to be between 500 and 800.

This morning on Radio 4's Today, Barry Sheerman MP and the author Ian Rankin discussed the problem that one in five 14-year-old boys have reading ages below that expected of 11 year-olds. The discussion is well worth listening to but there are a few talking points worth tackling. The first is that, while the widening gap between girls and boys demonstrates there is a problem, we shouldn’t necessarily expect a school system to ensure boys perform as well as girls in reading tests. Other factors (such as natural aptitude, differing ages of development and social cues) might be playing a larger role. It is enough of a challenge to get everyone to a reasonable standard of literacy, besides having to compensate for disadvantages caused elsewhere. But on that point of literacy standards, it is worth underlining that there is a severe problem with reading in UK. It is not new but nor is it being tackled effectively.

Sheerman emphasised the need to teach reading systematically from an early age. We agree. Indeed, a systematic approach is more likely to be appreciated by boys who might prefer to tackle problems using procedural methods. We also have a more specific suggestion. As our report Ready to Read? discussed, there is an effective method for equalising outcomes between middle class children and those from lower income families: synthetic phonics, the strategy we use in our supplementary schools.

The Register, the online IT magazine, has a detailed report on the case of John Pinnington, a deputy head teacher who was fired from his job when an enhanced criminal records background (CRB) check registered allegations of abuse, allegations that were demonstrably weak. Pinnington took his case for judicial review, arguing that mere accusations should not have been disclosed to his employer. Lord Justice Richards has taken the view that they should be disclosed and that it was for the employer to decide whether an employee posed an acceptable risk as a consequence.

So much is wrong with the present state education system. Falling standards masked by ever-rising examination grades. Ever more ‘teaching to the test’ leading to an ever more constricted curriculum, and, in consequence, duller lessons. These in turn, perhaps, are a major contributory factor behind the very real recent large increase in bullying at school and very high levels of truancy.

The list of maladies that afflict the present educational system is seemingly endless. No wonder increasing numbers of parents are choosing to spare their children the ordeal of schooling, by choosing to ‘do it themselves’ at home. Often, these parents seem willing to leave their off-springs' education to the vagaries of chance, with surprisingly little, if any, apparent ill-effect if recent reports are to be believed.

Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France and current holder of the EU Presidency, is finally in the press for the right reasons. He was credited with ‘brokering’ a ceasefire between Russia and Georgia last week; a ceasefire which Russia seems to have no intention of honouring. Nevertheless, Sarkozy seems keen to capitalise on his role in the Georgia-Russia negotiations in order to push on with the agenda of the French Presidency of the EU, writes Laura Kelleher.

Poor quality 'vocational' or 'vocationally related' qualifications at GCSE are locking both low-income pupils and vocational education into second-class status.

• Pseudo 'vocational' qualifications being used to artificially reach A*-C GCSE targets
• Poorer pupils more likely to be pushed into vocational qualifications

Out of the thousands of pupils getting their GCSE results today, many will have been sold short with sub-standard vocational qualifications.

A new report from independent think-tank Civitas, School Improvement - or the 'Equivalent', shows how a blind focus on the A*-C benchmark, together with a failure to truly improve schools, has led to a scenario in which pupils are being encouraged to opt out of academic courses and into irrelevant so-called 'vocational' qualifications to boost national GCSE results.

To claim, as some leading Tories recently have, that ours is a broken society involves their making two tacit assertions. One is about human societies in general; the other about ours in particular.

Dr Ruth Lupton of the Institute of Education has taken the Conservative’s recent education report, A Failed Generation, to task for using dodgy statistics to claim that the education gap between rich and poor has widened on New Labour’s watch. Her criticisms are powerful but not exactly an overwhelming indictment of the report. One of its claims was based on a statistic on SATS mistakenly provided by the DCSF suggesting, helpfully, that results of repeated information requests from government departments are not especially accurate.