Whichever government is in power, the story is always the same…LET’S THROW A TEST AT IT!
The powers that be ALWAYS evade the real problem. They have done for years
and years.
If as much energy was put into ‘how to teach the basics’
FROM THE START, then things would be a whole lot different in our education
system.
I saw a child this week who can’t read very well, can’t write very well and
can’t spell. I gave up my own time
because her mum is so worried about her and quite rightly so. An eleven year old who is
struggling…and why? I’ll tell you why. It’s all to do with the phrase ‘caught
not taught’. She has ‘caught’ certain
things and hasn’t been 'taught'…simple as that.
That’s because too much emphasis is put upon testing what they
know…which is the most stupid thing, if you think about it…if they haven’t been
taught it then how the heck can they be tested? Children like her only ‘catch’
part of what they should know…and it is all to do with good teaching…or lack of
it. Children like her will be entering secondary school, next year and then
what happens then? It’s not easy teaching an eleven year old to read when she
has only got a reading age of 7 or 8 ; finding the appropriate books and materials is
a big problem and I wonder how many schools have the right resources, let alone
plenty of them.
I see it all the time: huge classes (this doesn’t help matters); too many schools, where reading IS NOT a priority (OF COURSE IT SHOULD BE!); too many schools, where books are not sent home (I have more books in my study than
many schools own!) ; too many schools, where children are lucky if they read once a week
to a teacher, if that! (DISGRACEFUL!); too many schools where a spelling programme is non
existent (HOW THE HECK ARE CHILDREN MEANT TO LEARN?); too many schools where handwriting
isn’t taught properly…my goodness, the children I see are not even shown to sit PROPERLY
at a table, let alone hold their pencil CORRECTLY. Good practice…it’s non-existent,
in some places.
I’m not saying that all schools are like this and, yes,
there are some excellent schools and many superb teachers out there… but there
are also many classrooms where good practice is, very sadly, lacking.
And what the heck does an Education Secretary know about
teaching the basics?!
Nothing. Whether he/she is Conservative or Labour or from
the flaming moon…(well they might as well be! ) They know nothing. So….what do
they do?
They chuck a test at it, convinced that it will do the trick
and raise standards!!
It’s not good, it’s not clever and it’s very, very worrying
indeed. Children shouldn’t be meeting exams until GCSE level. Any other tests undertaken in the primary school, should be reading and spelling assessments, which take up little time,
in order to identify problems.
The worst thing is that all of this is not rocket science; the
remedy would be a simple one, if only someone would adopt some common sense
and consult people who really do know. Until that time, we will never achieve our ‘rounded and grounded’ education system…whichever party is in govt!
;-)
