Primary pupils 'let down by system'

12 April 2012

Ministers have admitted that progress in primary schools has stalled and many children who could get better grades are being let down by the education system.

In too many schools, teachers' expectations of what children can achieve are "unacceptably low", said schools minister Lord Adonis and children's minister Beverley Hughes.

They said national test results for primary and secondary pupils presented "a mixed picture" with some successes but falling standards among children aged seven and 14.

The two ministers highlighted "a number of challenges" for English schools in a joint letter to local authorities in which they urged councils to redouble their efforts to raise standards.

The letter, dated October 27, said: "There are still too many schools where expectations are unacceptably low and which let down the pupils who attend them.

"The provisional national results for 2006 present a mixed picture in this respect. We remain particularly concerned at the slow rate of progress in raising primary standards," they said.

Figures for national test results for 11 year-olds showed a record rise in the proportion reaching the expected standard - level 4 - for their age group in writing.

"But there was no progress in the proportion of 11-year-olds reaching level 4 in English and only a small improvement in mathematics," the ministers said.

"Many pupils who should be progressing two levels across Key Stage 2 (for seven to 11-year-olds) are not doing so.

"These results, together with falls in reading, writing and mathematics at every level in Key Stage 1 (for five to seven year-olds) and Thursday's announcement of a reduction compared with 2005 in the numbers of children achieving six or more points across the foundation stage profile (assessments for five year-olds), suggest that there is still much to be done."

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