The government should scrap the current system of tests for school pupils because it risks damaging children and created an atmosphere where schools became focused on hitting targets, MPs said on Tuesday. A highly critical report by the Children Schools and Families Committee called said urgent reform was needed as the government’s use of tests to make conclusions about schools as well as an individual pupil’s progress was inappropriate.
It concluded that the use of league tables, which assess schools on the performance of their pupils, meant some institutions concentrated more on maximising test results than giving children a more rounded education.
“In an effort to drive up national standards, too much emphasis has been placed on a single set of tests and this has been to the detriment of some aspects of the curriculum and some students,” Barry Sheerman, the committee’s chairman, said.
The committee would like to see teachers focus less on test results and more on personalised learning, he added.
For more go to this article at the BBC.
