Thursday, October 06, 2005

GRADE SCHOOL FAILINGS IN BRITAIN

"Thousands of children are starting secondary school unable to read or write properly". In California thousands of children are FINISHING secondary school unable to read or write properly!

Thousands of children are starting secondary school unable to read or write properly because of poor teaching, school inspectors have found. One in three primary school lessons are still no better than satisfactory despite the Government’s commitment to improve standards, Ofsted reported yesterday. Boys in particular have shown little improvement and they fall further behind girls in test results as they grow older.

The inspectors said “urgent” action is required to help pupils who start secondary education without reaching the levels of English skills expected of their age group. National test results show that about one in five 11-year-olds do not reach the standard expected of their age group in English. The inspectors found that schools which teach using traditional phonics “systematically and rapidly” from an early age, have the greatest success in helping children to learn to read and write.

Ofsted’s study of the state of English teaching over the past five years found that pupils did not know how to improve because the quality of teachers’ assessment was “consistently weak”. Miriam Rosen, Ofsted’s director of education, said: “We are concerned, particularly because it will interfere with their ability to access the rest of the curriculum.” Standards in English continued to rise over the five-year period that the report covered, she said. “However, they have yet to reach the Government’s targets.” The Ofsted report concluded: “There is an urgent need for schools to improve the literacy skills of pupils who enter year seven (the first year of secondary school) with attainment below Level 4 (the standard expected of 11-year-olds).” Despite significant improvements in teaching between 2000 and 2005, 30 per cent of all primary English lessons are “no better than satisfactory”, Ofsted said.

Jacqui Smith, the Schools Minister and a former teacher, said: “Let’s get this in context. When Ofsted say that 30 per cent of lessons are no better than satisfactory this does not mean that these lessons are failing — it means they are meeting the expected standard but that there is room for improvement.”

The inspectors findings on the success of phonics come just months ahead of a Government review into the way reading is taught in primary schools. It is expected to examine whether more traditional methods could be used to raise standards. Jim Rose, a former director of inspection at Ofsted, was commissioned to report in January whether blending the sounds and shapes of individual letters instead of recognising whole words, would help children learn to read more easily. Since the 1960s, the “whole language” method of learning has predominated in most English primary schools. The Government embarked on the study after a seven-year pilot of children in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, showed that by age 11, pupils who had been taught throughout primary school to read with synthetic phonics, were three years ahead of their peers. Nick Gibb, the shadow Schools minister welcomed the findings and called for all primary schools to employ the more traditional teaching method

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DOMESTIC SCIENCE CLASSES RETURN TO BRITISH SCHOOLS -- BUT MAINLY AS "FOOD CORRECTNESS" PROPAGANDA

Cookery classes will return to secondary schools as part of “healthy eating” proposals set out yesterday by Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary. Boys and girls aged 11 to 14 will learn how to prepare vegetables and cook basic dishes under revisions to the national curriculum. The restoration of domestic science was recommended by the Government’s School Meals Advisory Panel, which accepted that schools concentrated too much on teaching food theory rather than on kitchen skills.

Ms Kelly supported the panel’s report that all children should be taught food preparation and practical cooking skills in the context of healthy eating. Parents might also be told what food is permitted in packed lunches, which are a must at thousands of primary schools without kitchen facilities. Pupils may also be barred from leaving school grounds at lunchtimes to stop them buying fast food. The proposals, subject to consultation, come after Ms Kelly’s announcement to the Labour Party conference last week that junk food would be banned from canteens and school vending machines.

Practical cookery is not in the curriculum, which requires pupils only to study food technology in design and technology classes. A curriculum review would now emphasise cooking skills. The Department for Education and Skills said: “Alongside giving children better meals, we want to ensure that they learn about diet, nutrition, food safety and hygiene, practical food preparation and cooking. Preparing and cooking food is a key skill that will benefit them as they move into adulthood and independence.”

The panel has also identified a £266 million funding gap in the Government’s programme for improving school dinners. The Government promised £220 million, but tough new standards for school canteens, recommended by the panel and approved by Ms Kelly will cost £486 million to implement. Schools will have to observe food standards in September that require children to have at least two portions of fruit and vegetables a day for lunch, as well as easy access to fresh drinking water. Menus must include oily fish regularly, and no more than two deep-fried products a week

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

The NEA and similar unions worldwide believe that children should be thoroughly indoctrinated with Green/Left, feminist/homosexual ideology but the "3 R's" are something that kids should just be allowed to "discover"


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