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Keen eye for detail counts against pupils
Published by achristopher on September 4th, 2012Children are proving too clever for their own good when it comes to taking the new reading test for six-year-olds, according to research published today. In the test, which is designed as a phonics check, pupils are asked to sound … Continue reading → Read More
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Teachers reject new phonics check
Published by achristopher on September 3rd, 2012England’s new primary phonics test risks doing “long-term damage” to children’s reading, teachers’ leaders say. Association of Teachers and Lecturers head Dr Mary Bousted says fluent readers can fail the test as they think the test’s non-words are misprints. A … Continue reading → Read More
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Authors say phonics test plans pose threat to reading for pleasure
Published by mthompson on July 25th, 2012More than 90 of Britain’s best-known children’s authors and illustrators have called on the government to abandon its plans to introduce early-year reading tests, warning that they pose a threat to reading for pleasure in primary schools. The former children’s laureate Michael … Continue reading → Read More
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New grammar tests will ‘impoverish English teaching’
Published by dpeall on June 29th, 2012Plans for new primary school grammar tests in England will hold a “gun to the head” of teachers, experts say. The National Association for the Teaching of English says a revised focus on spelling, grammar and punctuation will “impoverish” teaching. … Continue reading → Read More
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‘A waste of time’, says heads on phonics test
Published by dchan on June 25th, 2012Many say it revealed little that teachers did not already know. More than 550,000 children aged 5-6 were the first to take the government’s contentious phonics screening test this week. Their headteachers’ response to the dubious honour was, unsurprisingly, that … Continue reading → Read More
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New reading test for six-year-olds is “flawed”, says Head teachers
Published by dchan on June 18th, 2012As six-year-olds across England prepared to take the Government’s controversial new reading test, three teaching unions raised fresh concerns that the check is ‘’flawed’’ and could do more damage than good. They suggested that including made-up words will frustrate youngsters … Continue reading → Read More
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Teaching unions urge rethink of phonics checks
Published by dchan on June 18th, 2012Leaders of three teaching unions have written to MPs urging a rethink of the phonics checks for six-year olds which are starting in schools. The unions say the controversial tests are an expensive way to tell schools what they already … Continue reading → Read More
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Stability if ministers can shake on new curriculum
Published by dchan on May 28th, 2012Gove and his Labour shadow will meet to seek consensus on reform. The long-awaited new national curriculum could be the last for a very long time if attempts to build political consensus around the reform are successful. TES has learned … Continue reading → Read More
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Heads oppose new punctuation and spelling test
Published by dchan on May 8th, 2012Head teachers say they will disrupt a new spelling, grammar and punctuation test to be introduced in England’s primary schools next summer. The SPAG test will be sat by pupils at the end of primary school as part of their … Continue reading → Read More
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Heads threaten reading test boycott
Published by dchan on May 8th, 2012Head teachers could boycott a controversial new reading test for six-year-olds in England if it is used as “a stick to beat schools”. The National Association of Head Teachers said the initiative should only be used as a genuine test … Continue reading → Read More