Posts Tagged primary
Failing all tests
Posted by Anastasia de Waal in Education on 17/07/2009
Problems with primary testing, from distorting the curriculum to painting a misleadingly positive view of basic standards in primary school, have been at the forefront of the school standards debate for well over a year now.
Survey reveals that 90% of secondary schools find Key Stage 2 Sats results do not reflect pupils’ true abilities
Posted by Nick Cowen in Education on 05/08/2008
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
More of Balls’ Games?
Posted by Nick Cowen in Education, Family, Marriage and the Culture on 12/12/2007
Yesterday Ed Balls, the secretary of state for children, schools and families, unveiled the government’s plan to make Britain “the best place in the world for our children to grow up in” – writes Claire Daley and Nick Cowen.The so-called “Children’s plan” aims to tackle crucial education and social issues facing children today in the light of recent critical reports by Unicef, which have sparked concern over the state of British childhood.
The government has faced criticism for generating policy which “lacks vision”, so the question is, could the new proposals really revolutionise the British childhood (as Balls has pledged), or it is simply a new excuse to flood teachers’ desks with directives and undefined reviews?
Celebrate Children’s Book Week by teaching children to read
Posted by Nick Cowen in Education on 03/10/2007
Civitas has marked the start of Children’s Book Week (www.booktrusted.co.uk/cbw/) by making available for the first time in a commercial edition a phonics-based reading course that has achieved sensational results with children from all backgrounds, including the most deprived.
Irina Tyk wrote The Butterfly Book in 1993 to make available to other teachers and parents her method of teaching reading using phonics – a system that teaches children to read by recognising the 44 sounds that make up the English language.
Media Information: Read All About It
Posted by Nick Cowen in Education on 05/09/2007
Weak reading lies at the heart of the educational apartheid between the advantaged and disadvantaged, and England’s low social mobility. The inability to read properly is the single greatest handicap to progress both in school and adult life.
As of this week, all children in primary schools will be taught to read using ‘first and fast’ synthetic phonics. This means that children’s first experience in school of learning to read will be to learn 44 letter sounds which they will be taught to blend together – or ’synthesise’ – to form words.
Background: despite additional billions invested in education, a significant achievement gap between rich and poor persists. [p2] At the heart of this lie poor reading skills:
-
Original ‘flagship’ National Literacy Strategy has failed to drive up reading standards
-
Government policy was based on flawed methods touted for decades by ‘trendy’ academics
This government’s move to systematic synthetic phonics in the classroom brings new hope that children of all backgrounds will be taught to read properly, according to a report by the independent think-tank Civitas.