BY LUCY CAULKETT
The recent announcement that a new test will examine multiplication skills in every 11 year old as part of the Government’s “war on innumeracy and illiteracy” is most welcome and will do a great service to our future society.
Up until now, children have grown comfortable with using calculators to solve mathematical problems, leading to many teenagers and even adults incapable of working out simple arithmetic. This is bad for the general development of society and does little to discipline youngsters. The illiteracy level of adults in Britain is alarming, and its root can be traced to insufficient grilling in our primary schools, to the extent of allowing some children to get to secondary school without learning basic literacy skills like how to write a letter.
Under the new measures by the Department of Education, Pupils will expected to know all tables up to 12×12, with an “on-screen check” examination to be piloted by 3,000 students in 80 schools this summer before being extended across the country by 2017. Learning your times tables gives the brain good exercise and encourages children to develop the necessary skill of perfecting the art of mental development.
Thousands of teenagers in Britain don’t know their time tables, and can’t put a decent grammatical sentence together. Reliance on calculators has made it seem unnecessary to learn ones time tables.
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It should be said that there are many teenagers who do know their time tables and many who are very competent in expressing themselves in writing. Britain has many good secondary schools with hardworking students, but also has many children who find school pointless because they have failed to develop the basic skills at primary schools to develop them and help them find secondary schools more worthwhile.
The thought that there are many adults in this country who can’t read and write is a shame to our country because it simply exposes the fact they were allowed to leave primary school without developing this skill. The announcement that teachers will also be assessed on the success rates of children learning their time tables and developing acceptable literacy skills is good news. The eye of media will definitely be following this up as education and the development of youths in this great country is something at the heart of our agenda and has been raised at some of our monthly meetings.
RESEARCH
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Previous research put at the public domain has shown our children to be trailing our European counterparts in key subjects like Maths and English, something we must strive hard to overcome. The finding is even more worrying if we include Africa and Asia in the mix. Considering this country boasts one of the best Universities in the world, we must not allow the children of our generation to waste away mentally, leaving only the brightest to excel in higher education. The government must be congratulated for this initiative, as it will only lead to better quality minds, higher prospects, and certainly lower crime rates in the future.
The new tests will see children complete multiplication challenges against the clock, which will be scored instantly, with the department of education saying it is the first use of on-screen technology in National Curriculum tests.
Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: ” As primary school pupils already have to learn their times tables by the end of year 4 Nicky Morgan’s announcement is clearly not about educational attainment but about the introduction of yet another test.
”We already are the most tested pupils in Europe; such endless testing stifles creativity and is ruining many children’s experience of learning”. However, Lucy Powell, the Shadow secretary, said the government had run out of ideas for educational improvement”.
She added, ”nothing is doing more damage to maths education in this country than the Government’s failure to recruit enough good maths teachers. Ministers have created chronic shortages of teachers up and down the country, particularly in key subjects such as English and maths. This is risking standards in our schools, and holding back both our young people and Britain’s future success.
“Times tables have long been a core part of excellent numeracy in our primary schools, and of testing. This announcement smacks of a government which has run out of ideas for educational improvement”.
What Powell fails to explain is why many primary school students still don’t know their times tables after year 4. The eye of media conducted two random tests today on two students apparently in ‘top set’ in their respective primary schools, and neither of the two was comfortable with their times table. Sure enough, better maths teachers would be useful, but the issue of learning times tables is simply a matter of discipline and regular reviewing of progress, combined with connecting with parents of the children.
We will be liaising with the authorities of more schools to see just how well children are doing in their time tables and keep our faithful readers up to date with facts and developments in this area.
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