SATS firm sacked

The private company responsible for marking this year’s SATS papers has been sacked.

The American company ETS was stripped of its contract by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, which appointed them in the first place. The announcement came after thousands of complaints from schools about delayed results and inadequate marking.

Results were so late that by the end of July some children still hadn’t received their marks. Some heads said SATS papers had been returned unmarked, with pupils marked as absent.

Heads reported problems with the system from early on. At one point, according to the BBC, ETS had 10,000 unopened emails from schools.

Minister blames teachers for children's SATS stress

Schools minister Ed Balls has accused primary schools of causing children unnecessary stress over SATS.

In an interview with the New Statesman magazine he said some teachers worry children by giving them advance warning of exams.

“It is totally the wrong way of doing things. No seven year old should ever know they are doing SATS.”

Headteachers, who have repeatedly called for SATS to be scrapped, said Balls was guilty of hypocrisy.

English children "most tested"

Primary school children in England are tested more heavily than most other developed countries.

A ‘testing culture’ means pupils face more testing, in more subjects, from an earlier age, a report by the Cambridge-based Primary Review found.

Comparisons were made with 22 other countries, including the Netherlands, France and Japan.

Children who start school early were also discovered to be at a disadvantage.

Those beginning at the age of four sometimes found the experience stressful. They performed less well all the way through education, and achieved lower grades at GCSE.

Primary schools in England were also found to be larger than in other countries, with an average of 224 pupils.

The Structure and Content of English Primary Education: international perspectives

TA concerns about lost childhood

Teaching assistants have raised concerns about a ‘loss of childhood’ affecting primary children today, in the biggest enquiry into English primary education for over 40 years.

They also highlighted the ill-effects of technology such as play stations, the internet, television and mobile phones in allowing children access to material ranging from ‘unsuitable’ to the ‘pernicious’.

In the survey by the independent, Cambridge University-based Primary Review, 64 teaching assistants were interviewed, of a total of 750 children, teachers, parents and others.

Teaching assistants generally felt that school stress, family breakdown, and consumer and media pressures was leading to a loss of childhood.

They made comparisons to being allowed to play freely outside unsupervised without the fears common today such as strangers and traffic.

Concern was also expressed about children using bad language, a loss of mutual respect, and a sense that ‘society doesn’t function as well as it did’.

In the classroom, teaching assistants said they would most like to see teaching concentrating on the basics of literacy, numeracy and ICT, without ignoring the need for life skills such as communication.

In the survey children said they suffered stress about exams and anxieties about modern life.

Climate change and terrorism were frequently cited, as well as the gap between rich and poor.

In addition children worried about traffic, knives, guns, strangers, and other personal safety issues.

The authors of the report say the line of questioning at the sessions was open, not leading, and that responses were very consistent although the sessions were held in very different regional venues, and people often referred to specific local issues to illustrate their views.

The Primary Review

KS1 writing standard falls again

THE basic writing standards of seven-year-olds have fallen for the second year in a row, government figures show.

80 per cent of children reached Level 2 in writing tests, down from 82 per cent of children last year.

For maths, science and reading, figures remained the same as the previous year, and one point down on 2005.

Girls outperformed boys in every category, particularly writing, where 86 per cent reached the target compared to 75 per cent of boys.

Schools minister Andrew Adonis said he was pleased with the results but stressed the need to push for improvements.He said: "We know that children who reach the expected level in reading, writing and maths at seven years old have a much better chance of leaving primary school with a solid foundation in literacy and numeracy skills.

"That is why we are doing much more to support early reading, writing and maths."