observer Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 Seems Mr Balls is finally going to scrap SATs for 11 year olds, is it time this Government took a step back on education and stopped trying to micro-manage our schools? Is it time that we had just ONE (high) standard of school leaving examination, that tested the accumulated knowledge of kids, rather than a system designed merely to pass a series of tests? Is it time that fundemental subjects such as English, Maths, Science, Geography, History anf Lauguages were prioritised, instead of dumbing down the system to load our Universities with "deprived" students? Is it time that we recognised that kids have differing ability levels, and tried to reinforce those aptitudes through streaming towards future vocational skills? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 observer!! You have FOUR yesses, see you next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 You can't do that, It doesn't fit with the NuLabour doctrine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted October 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 Someone said the Cabinet is now a load of Ed the Balls! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 Observer Uber Alles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted October 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 Perhaps more preferable to Brussels eh?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted October 19, 2008 Report Share Posted October 19, 2008 No Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted October 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 See this Government are now threatening to close Primary Schools with bad SATs results - errm, so where do the kids go then?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kennedy Posted October 24, 2008 Report Share Posted October 24, 2008 I see that the officials who oversee SATS are getting a bonus the following from Ananova "Officials at the Government agency which oversaw this year's Sats fiasco have been awarded thousands of pounds in bonuses. National Assessment Agency (NAA) staff will receive the payouts, which are linked to performance, next month. The National Assessment Agency (NAA), a division of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), was responsible for delivering this summer's tests and appointed private contractor ETS Europe to carry out the process. Administrative problems meant that ETS failed to get the papers in English, maths and science marked in time. The shambles saw more more than a million pupils' results delayed and thousands of scripts go missing or get sent to the wrong place. Some 104 of 105 NAA staff are to receive the bonuses this year, the Times Educational Supplement (TES) reported. It said the one-off payment, which relates to the 2007-08 financial year range from ?512.50 to ?3,905 for a high-ranking member of staff. Two-thirds or 69 of the agency's 105 staff members were graded "more than effective" in appraisals, the TES said, which earned them a bonus worth 5.5% of their salary. Thirty-five were deemed "effective" which gave then a 3.5% bonus. Only one was "less than effective." A QCA spokesman said: "The current pay settlement is for the financial year from April 2007-March 2008 and therefore relates to the 2007 test cycle which was delivered successfully. "More generally, all bonus payments are linked to the meeting of specific performance objectives set for each individual - a large number of NAA staff work on programmes unrelated to the delivery of national curriculum tests." I wonder if the one employee who didn't get a bonus has left...maybe it was a hint to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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