THE UK government was accused of complacency recently after revealing that writing standards among seven-year-olds had fallen for the second successive year, with 80 percent of them reaching expected standards. Results also remained constant in reading, with 84 percent of them hitting the standard, the Guardian has reported.
The statistics, released by the UK Department for Children, Schools and Families, covered 546,900 children in English primary schools. While the UK government insisted they were maintaining “high standards at this crucial stage of education”, the Conservatives attacked their “complacency” and the Liberal Democrats claimed the whole primary school program had “lost momentum” in making improvements in primary schools.
Lord Adonis, the UK schools minister, insisted he was pleased with the results. But he added that standards should be raised even further, especially in English writing.
Nick Gibb, the Conservative schools spokesman, said the results were “hugely concerning” as the early years of school are the “critical building blocks” of a child’s education.
The figures also showed that boys continued to lag behind girls across all subjects, particularly in English writing. The Liberal Democrat schools spokesman, David Laws, said the writing skills of seven-year-old boys should be seen as a national disgrace, with one in four lacking “even the most basic” writing skills. The UK National Union of Teachers are also concerned about the poor performance of boys compared with girls.
The UK Association of Teachers and Lecturers said the current system of “endless national testing” was putting children off learning.
