SATS results published 5 August 2008 show that standards increased marginally in the two core subjects (English and maths), following billions of pounds invested under Labour to improve pupil performance at primary schools.

The rise comes despite new rules introduced for the first time this year preventing schools "inflating" scores for thousands of borderline pupils. In the past, children just missing national standards had exam papers automatically reviewed - resulting in some papers being upgraded. However, results for those who only just got above the borderline were never re-checked, leading to accusations that scores in previous years had been exaggerated. It was predicted that this change in policy would lead to a fall in those reaching national standards.

However, results for 600,000 pupils published on 5 August showed that 81 per cent of pupils reached the required standard in English tests compared to 80 per cent last year. In Maths 78 per cent per cent of pupils hit national targets, compared to 77 per cent last year. In science tests, 88 per cent of pupils reached the standard expected of an 11-year-old, the same as last year.

The government has a target to get 85 per cent of 11-year-olds in England up to Level 4 - the national standard - in English and mathematics. There are fears that results for many pupils could fall significantly short of the mark and there are fresh claims that children are being coached for SATS.

A study published by Civitas revealed that most secondary school teachers believe scores are being "artificially inflated". Itt is feared as many as one-in-three 11-year-olds are getting better results than they deserve after being "taught to the test" - boosting the ranking of schools in national league tables.

Most teachers are now being forced to re-test children in their first two weeks of secondary schools to accurately measure their ability - placing further pressure on young pupils.

Headteachers also said that results could be affected by the chaos surrounding the marking of this year's papers. Results for 17,400 primary pupils had still not been delivered to schools earlier this week following errors by the company handling the process. Thousands more results for 14-year-olds were also outstanding - although ministers are still pressing ahead with the publication of results next week.

"The inappropriate use of national testing could lead to damaging consequences," warns the report. Schools Minister Jim Knight welcomed MPs' recognition that the "principle of national testing is sound". With hundreds of thousands of 11-year-olds in England taking "SATS" tests every year, the select committee report warns that the tests are being used in a way that does not benefit children or the schools system.

"In an effort to drive up national standards, too much emphasis has been placed on a single set of tests and this has been to the detriment of some aspects of the curriculum and some students," says committee chairman Barry Sheerman.

While supporting the idea of national tests, the report from MPs says that an "over-emphasis" on their results can distort how children are taught and "children's access to a balanced education is being compromised". It also criticises the single-level tests which are being piloted as a possible alternative. The report says these tests, taken when teachers think pupils are ready to go up a level, are likely to perpetuate the drawbacks of the SATS, including narrowing the curriculum. It warns that the single-level tests' "one-way ratchet" system will lead to an "artificial" improvement in results, in which pupils will be "certified to have achieved a level of knowledge and understanding which they do not in truth possess".

The report calls for a reform of the school performance tables, which for primary schools are based on the national test results. It suggests that accountability should be based on a wider range of measures, including Ofsted reports.

Schools Minister Jim Knight defended the use of national tests as part of the process of assessment.

"Along with teachers' own judgements and Ofsted reports, tests are a tool which help pupils and their parents to understand how well they are doing, help parents and teachers to understand how well their school is doing, and help the public to scrutinise the performance of the schools system. That's why they are here to stay. Parents don't want to go back to a world where the achievements of schools are hidden from them."

He was asked if pupils are being put under too much stress at too early an age: "If you don't have the tests at 11 and 14 then there's a danger that children then hit the very high stakes, high stress of GCSEs across the whole curriculum - not just English, maths and science - and the preparation that they get through sitting these Sats at 11 and 14 is in that respect good for them even though it might be a slight level of stress."

Chris Keates of the NASUWT teachers' union said: "It is pleasing to note that some aspects of the report confirm what the NASUWT has been saying for years, that the root of the problem is not the system of national testing but the performance league tables and other aspects of the not-fit-for-purpose accountability regime into which the test results are fed."

Children's Secretary Ed Balls and Culture Secretary Andy Burnham launched the plan at the Young Vic Theatre, which gives free tickets and drama workshops to thousands of young people from poor areas of south London.

Mr Balls said:"I want all young people to have the chance to experience and take part in creative activities to help them learn and develop." He said a new week-long festival will allow schools to celebrate the artistic talents of their pupils. The pilot projects will guarantee every child in the 10 areas five hours a week in school and outside for cultural activities. The aim will be to extend the scheme across England in future. While the Government hopes the initiative will help develop future stars, it is intended to help all young people learn how to be creative and enjoy the arts.

Pupils will take part in a range of activities, such as performing on stage, visiting galleries, museums and theatres, and gaining experience of film-making or TV. Learning to play and perform with musical instruments and creative writing will also form part of the programme. Local areas across England, including some of the most deprived parts of the country, will bid for a share of the £25 million funding for the pilots. Ministers have already said pupils should take part in up to five hours of sport every week and they aim to give children the same amount of time for cultural activities.

The proposal was first announced last year in the Government's Children's Plan, which set out the goals for education policy over the next decade. The document said: "We will work towards a position where, no matter where they live or what their background, all children and young people have the opportunities to get involved in top quality cultural opportunities in and out of school. "Children feel that they miss out if they or their families cannot afford these activities," it said. Last year the Commons Education Select Committee called on the Government to put creativity at the heart of every school. The MPs criticised schools ministers for not giving enough priority to creativity in education.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, was sceptical about the plans. "I don't see how we can offer five hours of cultural activity plus five hours of sport, plus the new responsibility for community cohesion and give pupils their lessons at the same time," he warned on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "We can't just go on placing extra burdens on schools all the time." He added: "The money that is going to be announced for this pilot scheme doesn't look very adequate - it's about £15 per pupil per year. You can't do very much with that.

28 January 2008 Gordon Brown has denied that plans for McDonald's and other firms to run A-level topics would amount to dumbing down - insisting the courses would be tough and intensive. Mr Brown's remarks came as he was due to speak at a conference in central London, alongside new Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell and Skills Secretary John Denham.

Mr Denham is expected to use the conference to outline moves to allow McDonald's and other firms to run A-levels in topics such as running burger restaurants. Mr Brown said such a move would not mean that standards were going to fall. "If McDonald's do it, it is not that standards are going to fall - in fact it is going to be a tough course - but once you have got a qualification in management you can probably go anywhere," he told GMTV.

He continued: "I think that is the important thing, companies prepared to train people up which they weren't doing before, in the way that we want them to do, in a far greater number, so that people have the qualifications for the future." To stop benefits becoming a way of life, would-be claimants will be forced to have a skills test, and then either matched with a job suited to their abilities or offered retraining.

Mr Brown will also announce a major expansion of apprenticeships. Speaking on GMTV about the expansion of the apprentice scheme, Mr Brown said: "Every young person needs a skill and I want every young person to think of either going to college, or having an apprenticeship or going to university. We can do it in this country." Mr Brown pledged to double the number of apprenticeships to 500,000 over a number of years.

Asked about the rate of failure to complete apprenticeships, Mr Brown said: "I would like to give incentives, you know cash incentives, for people to finish the apprenticeships... they don't get paid a wage as such, many of them get about £80 a week to do their apprenticeship. Once they had finished it, we could give them something as an incentive, but that is something for the future." To prevent young people moving on to welfare, one in five under-21s should be undertaking an apprenticeship within a decade.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families said classes would focus on simple, healthy recipes using fresh fruit and vegetables. Some £2.5 million will be spent providing free ingredients for the most deprived schoolchildren, it was revealed.

The plans were attacked by head teachers who warned that schools face a shortage of specialist cookery teachers while many lack kitchens. John Dunford, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "Just six months ago, ministers promised heads greater flexibility in the curriculum for 11 to 14-year-olds. Now they have fallen at the first fence, creating another entitlement and more compulsion for this age group. "The Government should never have downgraded practical cookery 20 years ago. In the intervening years, schools have been built or refurbished without practical cookery rooms."

From September, every 11 to 14-year-old in the 85 per cent of schools offering food technology classes will be taught practical cookery.
They will be expected to spend at least one hour a week cooking for one term at some point over the three-year period. The remaining 15 per cent of secondaries will be expected to teach the compulsory classes by 2011, although it is not clear which lessons will be axed to make way for the new entitlement.

Officials will carry out an audit of schools to find out how many lack proper kitchens and specialist cooking staff. Additional cash will then be distributed to those which need it the most.

It is not yet known how much it will cost. Almost 1,000 new food technology teachers and teaching assistants will also be trained over the next three years, the Government added. Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, said: "It must be a thing of the past that young people - especially boys - can leave secondary school never having had a basic cooking lesson. "Simple cooking is a fundamental skill that every young person should master - it is at the heart of tackling obesity and will enable future generations to understand food, diet and nutrition, and put together healthy meals for their entire lives."

Pilot scheme for national tests - 8 January 2007
The government is considering replacing the national tests children in England take at 11 and 14 with shorter, more frequent assessments. Proposals for consultation suggest tests be taken when teachers feel individual pupils are ready. The idea will be piloted for two years in 10 local authority areas. Ministers hope the "mini" tests will inject momentum into the process of raising standards - and they have no plans to do away with league tables.

At present, children across the country are assessed at the end of each national curriculum "key stage". This is done through teacher assessment for pupils in Tear Two (aged 6-7), and through tests in English, maths and science when they are 11 and 14. Education Secretary Alan Johnson said: "Rather than measuring progress at the end of a key stage, we can shift the focus to progress within each key stage and each year."

He added that many schools already use extra non-compulsory tests to monitor pupil performance and that these will be used as part of an integrated system. Mr Johnson promised it would not mean more work for teachers. Officials envisage the pilot involving two test opportunities each year, in December and in May or June.

Teachers would enter any pupils they felt were ready to move up to the next national curriculum level but all pupils, regardless of their ability, would still have to take the tests at some point. In this respect it would be more like the Scottish system, though that does not have the element of school accountability. The current cap on primary school achievement would be lifted, so that potentially even young pupils could hit levels well above what is currently expected of 14-year-olds.

For the pilot, the universal national tests each May would remain. But ultimately, subject to consultation, these could be dropped altogether.

Existing tables focus on so-called "threshold" attainment, and do not reveal when a bright pupil is "coasting" - exceeding the national expectation but actually capable of much better – or when a less intellectual child makes great personal progress but does not quite hit the "threshold".

The tables include "value added" measures which show the progress pupils have made. The most recent of these are "contextualised" to reflect certain aspects of children's personal circumstances. This has caused controversy.

High average scores within these can still mask under-attainment and do not fit with the government's plans to personalise learning and ensure every child's potential is fully realised.

The new arrangements would also be likely to bring new targets for schools. Mr Johnson has already said he wants a debate about the possible alternatives.

Proposed changes to A levels
Alan Johnson said on 30 November 2006 that the Government is proposing a number of measures to make the A-level more stretching. The main details are:

• making questions more open-ended and less prescriptive, requiring greater thought and more detailed written answers;
• the introduction of an A* grade, to encourage the best students to demonstrate the upper limits of their ability;
• from 2008, all students will be able to produce an extended, dissertation-like, project requiring independent research, thought and planning.

Mr Johnson said: “A generation ago, one in ten entrants received an A grade. Today, that is one in four - and not because the exam has got easier but because teaching has improved and pupils are studying harder.I don’t accept the views of those who seek to portray our nation and its children as being well on its way to Hell in a handcart, but I do agree that we should ensure that A-levels remain stretching. First, we will ensure that A-level papers contain more open ended questions, requiring greater thought and more detailed written replies, rather than short answer questions. This will give students an open-ended opportunity to shine and show their skills. And, second, we will introduce a new A* grade to reward achievement in these more stretching questions, encouraging the best students to demonstrate the upper limits of their ability.”

GCSE coursework has become "less valid" and should be scrapped in several subjects, the exams watchdog has said.
A Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) report says coursework "does not fulfil its stated purpose" in an age of league tables and targets.
Amid concerns about cheating, it was announced last week that maths coursework will be scrapped next year.
It should also end in subjects such as English literature and the humanities, or be more controlled, the QCA says.
If it is retained, it will be done under supervised conditions and be set and/or marked by the exam boards - not teachers.
In areas which most obviously require practical assessments - art, design and technology, home economics, music and PE - it will continue but with "stronger safeguards".
Most changes will affect courses starting in 2009, following consultation.
Science has been left out because GCSE courses changed only last month. They involve 25% coursework, much of it already classroom-based.
Decisions on English language and ICT will follow changes to incorporate "functional skills".
The lead has been taken by the English regulator, but working closely with its counterparts in Wales and Northern Ireland. The changes will apply across the board.
Maths was singled out because of the "striking" responses to a survey of teachers. In contrast with all other subjects, a substantial majority of mathematics teachers (66%) disagreed with the proposition that coursework was valid and reliable," the QCA said.
They also had the highest levels of concern about different aspects of coursework, "such as authenticating candidates' work".
In other subjects the responses were "fairly positive".
There were concerns about the workload faced by both students and staff, but most teachers "are not overwhelmingly worried about the use of the internet for coursework".
Most teachers wanted some coursework retained.
In spite of the report's contents, the QCA's chief executive, Ken Boston, said the current system of GCSE examinations and coursework was "robust".
"We are confident that the changes we are making to coursework will ensure that the GCSE remains fit for purpose, and ultimately reduces the assessment burden on both students and teachers," he said.

On-line school admissions help busy parents escape the time trap

Time-pressed parents are now only a ‘click’ away from school admissions from their local council - offering a quick and easy way of finding a school for their kids.  

Parents now enjoy more choice when selecting the school their child attends - but finding the right school can often be a time-consuming process. To compound this, a recent YouGov Poll, commissioned by DCLG, has revealed that over half of dads and over two thirds of mums have less than an hour of free time a day. 

To help deliver services to suit parents’ busy schedules, councils across England now offer on-line school admissions, along with a host of other local services. The entire process of applying for a school place can be achieved on-line, with the advantages of instant email reassurance that the form has been completed correctly and has been received in time. 

Angela Smith, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, praised this latest improvement to local services:

“Councils are now providing more practical ways for people to get in touch and their websites are fast becoming an essential aid for busy parents making important decisions about their child’s schooling.

“At the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) we’ve invested in a wholesale modernisation programme to create smarter council services. Providing services online also reduces the time council workers spend on administration so they are free to spend more time delivering better quality, value-for-money services.”

As well as securing school places for their children, time-pressed parents planning holidays around school term dates, or wanting to find out about holiday play schemes, can find this information too at the touch of a button at www.direct.gov.uk/mycouncil.

Professional Parent Coach, Judy Reich, says:

“Parents often spend months researching schools in their area - it’s not a decision they take lightly. Many mums and dads start thinking about schools as soon as their new baby is born! Making a few small changes can have a massive impact on their daily lives so online applications are a huge step forward.”

Early schooling Barry Sheerman, chairman of Parliament's Education and Skills Select Committee, showed his preference for the Scandinavian model -- where children start school at seven -- over the British one. He recommended a shake-up of education policy, including increasing the school age from five to seven.

"Why not let early education last until seven? Why not have a pre-school that lasts from three to seven?" he said in a speech to an audience in Oxford , west of London .

He also recommended a rethink of the current examination system. "We are the most tested and over-tested nation in the world." British children are required to take 'Key Stage' examinations at ages seven, 11 and 14 as part of the national curriculum.

The Education and Skills Select Committee was created in 2005 and makes regular policy recommendations to the government.

School meals
Friday 19 May 2006
The Food Standards Agency has today published target nutrient specifications for a range of manufactured foods used in school meals throughout the UK . New guidelines for healthier school meals will help reverse a rise in childhood obesity and establish better eating habits, dieticians say.

Meals high in salt and fat have been banned from schools in England , after a government review of school dinners. Pupils will get "a minimum" of two portions of fruit and vegetables with every meal, while deep-fried food will be restricted to two portions per week.

Experts say the guidelines must be seen in the context of a balanced diet. Ms Weir, a dietician who represented the British Dietetic Association on the School Meal Review Panel, said the guidance was not about giving pupils unpopular choices. "We're not denying them their favourite foods - we want them to enjoy lots of different foods. Chips are still there twice a week and there will still be desserts and good old school puddings.

22.03.06
Increase in funding for schools in England centrepiece of Chancellor Gordon Brown's 10th Budget. Mr Brown said his long-term aim is for state school pupils to get the same quality of education as private pupils. He described his Budget as one "for Britain's future to secure fairness for each child and invest in every child". He said his long-term aim is to increase investment from the current £5,000 per pupil in state schools to equal the private school spend of £8,000 per pupil.

The "first step", Mr Brown told MPs, is to increase capital investment in state schools to what it is in the private sector by 2011. Direct funding to head teachers will increase, targeted at the most deprived areas. Mr Brown said he could have used the money to cut taxes but "investing in education comes first".

20.03.06
How reading is taught is to change: children will be taught to read primarily using synthetic phonics.

This is a key recommendation of a review headed by former Ofsted director Jim Rose. He says phonics, or letter sounds, must happen alongside paying attention to speaking and listening. Phonics focuses on sounds - rather than, for example, having children try to recognise whole words.

In the widely-used analytic phonics, words are deconstructed into their beginning and end parts, such as "str-" and "-eet". In pure synthetic phonics, children start by learning the sounds of letters and of letter combinations: "ss-t-rrr-ee-t".

Only once they have learnt these will they progress to reading books.

The final Rose report recommends that for most children, systematic phonics teaching should start by the age of five with extra help for children who fall behind.

In the most famous experiment, in Clackmannanshire, children taught using synthetic phonics were years ahead of their contemporaries by the time they moved on to secondary school.

The national literacy strategy in England has seen the proportion of 11-year-olds reading at the expected level for their age rise from 67% to 84% but one in five children still does not reach the necessary standard in English overall.

Ms Kelly said she accepted all the recommendations in the report and had launched a programme of training for teachers. "I am clear that synthetic phonics should be the first strategy in teaching all children to read." Her department will work with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority on how best to embed this in the national curriculum.

08.03.06
Gifted pupils will be able to sit a new GCSE in further mathematics, education secretary Ruth Kelly has announced.
Ms Kelly said the new exam would ensure the most able were fully challenged. The Department for Education said the further maths GCSE was expected to be piloted in schools from September 2007. The announcement comes as ministers are reforming GCSEs so that candidates will not be able to get a grade C in English and maths without mastering basic literacy and numeracy skills. The reforms are in response to employers' complaints that even well-qualified youngsters lack workplace skills.

28.02.06
See the Education and Inspections Act for the latest information

The Education and Inspections Bill was published on 28 February 2006 . It allows schools in England to set up independent "trusts", with more say over admissions and budgets. Concessions, such as banning interviews of pupils and a strengthened admissions code, have been included to win over Labour MPs who fear a return to selection. Councils will also still be allowed to set up schools. Tories support the plans.

Many Labour MPs have argued against the plans, which are expected to be debated and voted on in mid-March They feel they will create a "two-tier" system, allowing "backdoor" academic selection.

The Bill includes:

• Parents, businesses and voluntary groups will be able to set up "trust" schools, with control over budgets and admissions
• Interviewing of pupils and parents will be banned
• Schools to 'act in accordance with the admissions code
• Schools to set up 'partnerships' with outside groups and
• Schools can set up 'federations' with other schools
• Failing schools will have one year to turn around or face being closed and replaced
• £30m for councils to raise standards

Education Secretary Ruth Kelly said: "I'm confident that this is a bill that my colleagues should be able to unite around. It is a very good bill. It gives schools the freedoms they need to raise standards."

Under the plans, private companies, charities, faith groups and parents will be given freedom to set up and run schools under the state system.

Existing schools will be allowed to develop "partnerships" with outside organisations and establish "federations" with neighbouring secondary schools.

Under the bill, the education secretary would retain a veto over councils' attempts to set up comprehensives, but would "not normally intervene".

15.02.06
University applications have fallen for the first time in six years, as higher fees are introduced across England.

Almost 13,000 fewer students have applied for courses starting in September than had applied at this time last year - a fall of 3.4%.

The National Union of Students blamed the fall on higher tuition fees, where students will pay up to £3,000 a year. Ministers stressed that last year's applications rose by almost 8% as some raced to avoid the top-up fee deadline. Currently the amount universities in England can charge students for tuition each year is capped at £1,175.

Universities in England can charge up to £3,000 a year for tuition from September. The effect of the so-called top up fees system is evident in the differences between applications for English universities and those for Scottish and Welsh universities, which are not charging the higher fees.

Official figures from the University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show all applications to English universities are down by 3.7%, while applications to Scottish universities are up by 1.6% and to Welsh universities by 0.5%.

The biggest fall - of 4.5% - is amongst English students applying to English universities. By contrast the figure for English students applying to Scotland is up by 1.9%.

15.02.06
Prime Minister Tony Blair has promised he will not abolish England's grammar schools, which select by ability.

Mr Blair said no major party leader would start a "war" with supporters of the 164 remaining grammar schools. His comments come as backbenchers call for an end to selection in return for their support for the education bill.

The prime minister restated his belief in the bill's plans for all secondary schools to gain trust status. Asked if he had considered a complete ban on academic selection for pupils at age 11, Mr Blair said: "If you want to have the entire education debate dominated by a war, which is what it would be, over the 160 remaining grammar schools, well you can do that.

"If you go after the existing grammar schools, where they've got parental support, you're just going to end up in limitless arguments about how you are trying to close down grammar schools, rather than about how you raise standards in the non-grammar school population."

06.02.06
A LEADING private school is to join the state sector, becoming a city academy.

William Hulme’s Grammar School in Manchester will end its selective admissions test and annual fees of £7,472 in exchange for state funding as an academy.

It is the first member of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) of 245 top independent schools to opt in to the state sector. The school and its junior department will become an academy for pupils aged 3 to 18 in September 2007.

This decision is a boost for Tony Blair’s plan to open 200 academies by 2010 and to draw independent schools into the maintained sector.

Stephen Patriarca, head teacher, said that he wanted academy status after reading Mr Blair’s White Paper plan to create “trust” schools run by private sponsors independent from local authorities.

William Hulme’s, which opened in 1887, is returning to the state sector as a former direct grant school that went independent in 1976, when the Labour Government of the day abolished the status. As self-governing schools funded by the state, academies are effectively a revival of the direct grant concept.

The school will continue to select 10 per cent of pupils by aptitude in modern languages, its proposed specialist subject. Mr Patriarca said that the coeducational school would expand from 500 to 800 pupils as an academy and it will be able to serve families in an area of south Manchester with high levels of deprivation, who had previously been deterred by the fees.

William Hulme’s follows the Belvedere School in Liverpool in leaving the fee-paying sector to become a non-selective academy in 2007, while the former head teachers of two other private schools have chosen to take charge of academies.

2006/02/06

At-a-glance: reforms compromise

The government has made what it calls "extra sensible reassurances" to the backbench critics of its education White Paper.

The changes come under four main headings and include some real changes and some clarifications.

1. Admissions

The current Admissions Code of practice will not be put into law but it will be strengthened. There will be a new specific ban on schools interviewing pupils or parents (in fact only a tiny number of schools do this now).

The code will also be amended to say that schools should 'act in accordance' with it, rather than just 'have regard to' it as happens now.

2. New Schools

Local councils will be able to open new 'community' (that is local authority) schools. The White Paper had said all new schools would have to be either trust or foundation schools or academies.

However, before a council can open a new community school the decision would have to be ratified by both the secretary of state and the schools adjudicator.

3. Admissions Forums

The existing Admissions Forums will be strengthened.

Admissions Forums are committees of local schools, other bodies such as the churches, and the local council.

They already have oversight of admissions and this would not have changed under the White Paper.

But in a new move, the forums will be able to object to the schools adjudicator if they feel schools are not abiding by the admissions code.

This is important because at present only the local council can object and councils are often reluctant to do so.

This is not a new power over admissions for local councils and the government has explicitly rejected the call from the Commons education select committee for "benchmarks" of students from different socio-economic backgrounds.

4. Trust schools

The government has clarified that it is voluntary for schools to become trusts and that the schools adjudicator can rule against new trusts. Also if a trust closes the assets (school buildings etc) can revert to the local council.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk_politics/4687566.stm

Published: 2006/02/06 21:11:03 GMT