The government has announced mandatory reading, writing and maths tests for primary schools.
From next year, schools will be required to test the ability of five year olds to link sounds and letters at 20 and 40 weeks of schooling.
From years 3-8, schools would have to test children’s reading, writing and maths twice a year using either e-asTTle or Progressive Assessment Tests (PATs).
Parent of a 5 year old year one student and just had first parent teacher interviews last couple days. As anecdotal as this will be, with my sample size of one, plus being in touch with other parents, this is a pointless populist move. The teachers are working their absolute arses off ensuring our kids are getting everything they can get. And already doing this needless to say. My kids teacher looks bloody exhausted at the best of times, and is made of stronger stuff than I or this highly rested smug shiny faced fake smiled property magnate. What teachers need are more resources, more time (i.e more teachers) and more pay. These useless checkbox ticking numbskulls think we fall for this empty grandstanding? Absolute wastage of resource, ironically.
This is so dumb. I particularly dispise the idea of testing 5 year olds. Many countries, especially ones we compare ourselves with, don’t start school until 6 or 7. Hell, we don’t require school until 6. We know that forcing young kids into academics before they are ready can be detrimental to their later learning, which is why the first couple of years only have casual learning and lots of social interaction to build those skills.
Could the government be wrong? No! It is the experts who are wrong.
