Unions are urging a cut in tests on times tables and grammar at primary schools. The Mail has more.
Ministers are facing pressure to make the compulsory basic maths checks in Year Four optional as they can be a “waste of time”.
The most difficult grammar questions would also be removed from year six SATs, under the ideas.
The move – reportedly being put to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson as part of a review – would effectively roll back the Tory Government’s push for a tough elementary curriculum.
Former Schools Minister Nick Gibb warned it would be a “retrograde step” and “damage the life chances of the next generation of young people”. …
Mr. Gibb said: “All the evidence is that children knowing their times tables by heart is an essential precondition for more sophisticated mathematics, particularly things like simplifying equations and algebra.
“It would be a huge mistake to abolish a very simple computer-based test which actually children enjoy doing.”
Worth reading in full.
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