School Gate Blog: Scrap Key Stage 3 tests

Improvements in school standards have ground to a halt, the Government admitted yesterday as it published test results showing a decline in English and science.

A third of 14-year-old boys failed to meet the lower of two expected standards in English and one in five has not even reached the level of an 11-year-old. Ministers have now missed the targets in the Key Stage 3 tests in English, maths and science that they hoped to have exceeded by last year.

Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, said that teenagers needed to be inspired by action and adventure books by writers such as the former SAS officer Andy McNab and Jeremy Clarkson. He feared that computers were preventing them developing a love of reading.

He also suggested that improvements in writing may have damaged reading standards. “Eleven-year-olds are leaving primary school as confident readers but too many are behind in writing,” he said. “They are catching up at secondary school ready for their GCSE courses, but this can be at the expense of progress in their reading.”

Pupils are supposed to reach Levels 5 or 6 by the age of 14. Those achieving Level 5 in writing rose from 73 to 77 per cent this year, but overall the English mark was down from 74 to 73 per cent, because of a fall in reading standards. Only 62 per cent of boys reached Level 5 in reading.

Maths improved from 76 to 77 per cent, but science fell from 73 to 71 per cent. The number of 14-year-olds reaching Level 6 remained the same in science (41 per cent) and rose in English (34.5 per cent) and maths (57 per cent).

Mr Knight said: “We need some sort of step change to move on from where we’ve been in the last four years in English.”The distraction of computers and television was something that needed to be tackled, and parents should read the same books as their children and discuss them as a family.

Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, suggested last year that parents who failed to encourage a love of reading over computer games were to blame for declining standards.

Mr Knight said almost seven in ten of pupils not achieving Level 5 had either special educational needs, took free school meals or spoke English as a second language. He denied that a plateau had been reached, but said: “The extra gain in percentage points becomes that much more difficult for schools to achieve.”

He said that one-on-one tuition was one way schools could boost improvement. He added that the more flexible secondary school curriculum being introduced this autumn would help teachers to “personalise” learning, and was expected to raise standards.

The data published yesterday was based on only 84 per cent of English papers, and 94 per cent of science and maths results. This was because of problems and delays in marking the tests, which was the responsibility of ETS Europe, an American-owned company. School league tables are unlikely to be published on time this year because of continuing marking delays.

Mr Knight said that he expected the problems with delivering the tests to schools to push back publication of results at school level. Tables for primary schools are usually published in December, and those for secondary school in January.

Nick Gibb, the Shadow Schools Minister, said: “The Government continues to miss its modest targets and we are left with the unacceptable position that two out of five 14-year-olds are failing to achieve the necessary grades in reading, writing and maths.”

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