Tag Archives: phonics check

Phonics test – Nick Gibb fails again

Posted on September 27, 2018 by reclaimschools

Schools minister Nick Gibb is crowing, once again, that thousands more children are ‘on track to become fluent readers’. Improved pass rates in the Phonics test show no such thing. “163,000 more 6-year-olds are on track to become fluent readers … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Uncategorized | Tagged accountability pressures, phonics, phonics check, politicians, testing | Leave a comment

Challenging the tyranny of the Phonics Check

Posted on July 9, 2018 by reclaimschools

It is hard to compete with Margaret Clark’s tenacity in challenging the deeply flawed Phonics Screening Check along with schools minister Nick Gibb’s dogmatic support of Synthetic Phonics. After editing two books in a single year, she has just completed a … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Curriculum, Uncategorized | Tagged phonics, phonics check, politicians | Leave a comment

Will anything but a boycott stop the tests?

Posted on July 11, 2017 by reclaimschools

The Reclaiming Schools network has played a significant role in exposing the damage caused by high-stakes testing, including our pamphlet ‘The Mismeasurement of Learning‘, widely circulated in the NUT and elsewhere, various series of blogposts carrying detailed analysis from specialist … Continue reading →

Posted in Curriculum | Tagged accountability pressures, assessment alternatives, baseline tests, creativity, disadvantage, National Curriculum, Ofsted, phonics check, politicians, testing | Leave a comment

Yorkshire conference – More Than A Score

Posted on April 13, 2017 by reclaimschools

Park Inn, North St, York YO1 6JF This conference will bring together parents and teachers across the region to discuss the crisis facing our schools and how this is affecting children and young people. It will provide an opportunity to … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability | Tagged accountability pressures, assessment alternatives, baseline tests, creativity, early education, National Curriculum, phonics check, testing | Leave a comment

Little change promised on primary tests

Posted on April 12, 2017 by reclaimschools

The Government were clearly rattled by opposition to last year’s tests, including the parents’ protest last May and hundreds of responses to the Select Committee of MPs. Unfortunately, they are very slow to learn. After many delays, the new proposals amount to … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability | Tagged accountability pressures, assessment alternatives, baseline tests, disadvantage, early education, phonics, phonics check, politicians, testing | Leave a comment

The mismeasurement of learning

Posted on November 28, 2016 by reclaimschools

Our new pamphlet The Mismeasurement of Learning focuses on primary assessment. It describes an assessment system which gives poor feedback on children’s learning and is damaging their well-being. The situation was brought to a point of crisis this year because of … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Uncategorized | Tagged accountability pressures, assessment alternatives, creativity, early education, National Curriculum, phonics check, streaming and setting | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Accountability | Tagged accountability pressures, baseline tests, early education, grammar, National Curriculum, phonics, phonics check, politicians, streaming and setting, testing | Leave a comment

Remove the figurehead… and change direction

Posted on July 9, 2016 by reclaimschools

The NUT has called for the resignation of Nicky Morgan as Secretary of State for Education. We expect that other organisations of teachers and parents will soon follow. Morgan’s position is now untenable. She was appointed to calm the storms … Continue reading →

Posted in Curriculum | Tagged academies, accountability pressures, assessment alternatives, baseline tests, early education, local democracy, National Curriculum, Ofsted, phonics check, politicians, privatisation | Leave a comment

Phonics fanatics: politicians who think they know best

Posted on June 22, 2016 by reclaimschools

This post concludes our series on phonics by asking what has been gained by politicians imposing their will on teachers. It draws on research by Professor Dominic Wyse (UCL IoE) among others, as well as official data. The issue is … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability | Tagged accountability pressures, assessment alternatives, National Curriculum, Ofsted, phonics, phonics check, politicians, testing | Leave a comment

The phonics check: what does it prove?

Posted on June 12, 2016 by reclaimschools

drawing on research by Professor Margaret Clark The ‘phonics check’ is one of the most insane tests ever invented. It is not a real test of children’s reading, but designed to monitor whether teachers are teaching reading in the government-approved way. That is … Continue reading →

Posted in Curriculum | Tagged accountability pressures, assessment alternatives, early education, National Curriculum, phonics, phonics check, politicians | Leave a comment