Tag Archives: grammar

New research exposes grammar school myth

Posted on March 10, 2017 by reclaimschools

New research by expert statisticians from the Universities of Bristol and Warwick, and the Institute of Education (UCL), demonstrates the dishonesty of Theresa May’s claim that grammar schools will benefit families that are “just about managing”. Simon Burgess, Claire Crawford and … Continue reading →

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Links to posts on primary testing

Posted on October 10, 2016 by reclaimschools

We thought it would be useful to publish a list of our posts on primary tests over the past year.  Primary testing (general issues) Moving beyond ‘fixed ability thinking’ Bullying by numbers – its roots in neoliberalism An impossible curriculum: … Continue reading →

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BACC to a grammar and prep school curriculum?

Posted on July 9, 2016 by reclaimschools

by Dr Valerie Coultas, School of Education, Kingston University The Conservative government’s changes in the curriculum and testing are presented as radical, forward looking, and creating greater opportunities for all. In reality the new curriculum in the primary school, the new GCSE … Continue reading →

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Testing grammar to destruction

Posted on May 10, 2016 by reclaimschools

A recent post argued that the new National Curriculum works on the flawed assumption that children need to be taught hundreds of complex rules in order to speak, read and write well. The problems in the new KS1 and KS2 … Continue reading →

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Primary tests: a barrier to real learning

Posted on April 29, 2016 by reclaimschools

It is not surprising that the primary tests are causing anxiety. They are based on curriculum targets that are poorly matched to the age of the child. But there is another reason: the primary National Curriculum now consists of long … Continue reading →

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Curriculum and Assessment in English 3 to 19: A Better Plan

Posted on April 14, 2016 by reclaimschools

by John Richmond The National Curriculum for English then… In the late 1980s, when the idea of a National Curriculum was proposed, I welcomed the principle that all children and young people in state schools have a common entitlement to … Continue reading →

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English for the many or the few

Posted on September 23, 2015 by reclaimschools

The hatred of Conservative education ministers for democratic ideas about language  connects with their broader opposition to comprehensive education. There is nothing very new in their elitist attitudes to English teaching or indeed to comprehensive education. Many of their ideas … Continue reading →

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