Miscellaneous -
Education
One
third of 14-year-olds failed to reach the
required standard in English, maths and science,
despite a slight improvement in national test
scores this year. Pupils who do badly in the
first three years of secondary school are very
likely to under-achieve at GCSE. SATs scores
showed 66% of pupils in England reached the
required standard in English, a 1% improvement on
2001. There was a 1% rise in maths to 67% and
information and communications technology teacher
assessment scores also improved 1% to 66%.
However, the proportion of 14-year-olds who did
what was expected of them in science stayed
static at 66%.
By 2004, 75% of 14-year-olds are supposed to be
reaching the required standard in English, maths
and ICT while 70% are supposed to do so in
science. Boys' achievements in English lagged 15
percentage points behind that of girls, while the
genders are level pegging in maths. Boys,
however, had a two percentage point lead over
girls in science. In September 2001, the
Government launched a £500 million drive to
boost achievement in the middle years compulsory
schooling, initially covering English and maths,
which was to be extended to science.
A survey found a decline
in the number of UK primary schoolchildren able
to tell the time with only two thirds of four to
eight-year-olds able to read analogue watches.
The survey recorded abilities for each year
group, and compared findings to those of the
previous year. The government decrees that four
to five-year-olds should begin school being able
to recognise o'clock time but the survey found
that 59% could not, an increase of 16% from the
year before. Five to six-year-olds are supposed
to be able to read time to the hour or half hour,
but only 53% could do so. 19% of mothers surveyed
claimed it to be the school's responsibility.
Teachers
at a primary school were told not to mark
children's work in red ink because it encourages
a "negative approach". In future,
pupils at Uplands Manor Primary School in
Smethwick, West Midlands, will see their mistakes
struck through with a green pen. Frank
Betteridge, Conservative education spokesman on
Sandwell Council, said, "Ever since people
have written in coloured ink, blue has meant
credit and red has meant debit. Children will
soon realise that green means the same as red
used to. If it's a question in maths or spelling,
it's either right or wrong. That needs to be
emphasised. The remarks on the page should tell
children where they are going right or
wrong."
Children
at a Brighton school were told not to use the
terms BC and AD in dates. Instead, the pupils at
the Dorothy Stringer School were told to use BCE
for Before Common Era and CE for Common Era. The
parents of one boy at the school saw the terms
when helping him with his homework and said they
were "astonished" to hear pupils were
no longer using the terms AD for Anno Domini, the
Latin for in the year of our Lord and BC for
Before Christ. The school's deputy headteacher
said, "The terms BCE and CE have been used
for many years. They're approved international
terms." But the Department for Education
said the national curriculum clearly states the
terms BC and AD should be used. A spokesman said,
"Schools are free to use other terms. But
there is no suggestion that these terms should
become replacements for AD and BC."
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