Key stage 3 results ‘best ever’
Schools standards minister Jacqui Smith today welcomed the best ever test results for 14-year-olds.
Almost three quarters (74 per cent) of pupils reached the required level in English and maths, the biggest rise in English since 1998, while 70 per cent reached this level in science.
In addition, boys’ writing results rose by five per cent to 70 per cent in the last year, helping to further reduce the achievement gap between the sexes.
Ms Smith attributed the progress to advancements in teaching and learning, backed by the key stage three national strategy, which was launched in 2001.
“The first three years of education in secondary school are hugely important. Too often in the past they were seen as the fallow years where pupils were marking time,” she said.
“That is why we launched the key stage three national strategy to improve the quality of teaching, to set a faster pace of learning, and to make sure that children’s success at primary school continues on into secondary education.”
John Dunford, the general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association (SHA), backed this view, saying schools had put “an enormous amount of additional effort” in teaching 11- to 14-year-olds.
He added that drives to increase the number of teachers had paid off: “The improvement in the teacher recruitment situation has had a positive effect on the results of 14-year-olds.
“When the teacher shortage was at its worst, unqualified teachers were allocated most often to lessons for 11- to 14 years-olds and so this age group was hit disproportionately hard.”
However, the Conservatives warned the results showed reading levels were still not good enough and said the government should not be so complacent.
“Let’s be brutally frank about these results. They show that 32 per cent of 14-year-olds in this country are still not reading at the expected level,” said shadow education minister Nicolas Gibb.
“This 32 per cent will have struggled in their first three years of secondary school simply because their grounding in literacy in primary school was inadequate.
“The government should be alarmed and taking action at what is happening in Manchester and Hull where only 50 per cent of 14-year-olds are reading at the expected level.”
