'Back-to-basics' grammar tests for 11-year-olds revealed

New spelling, punctuation and grammar tests for 11-year-old pupils as well as proposed plans for a new higher maths qualification have been revealed today as part of Michael Gove's plans to improve literacy and numeracy in schools.

By Andrew Marszal, Digital Education Editor

11:04AM GMT 17 Dec 2012

A new ‘back-to-basics’ test of spelling, punctuation and grammar to be sat by up to 600,000 primary school

students from next summer was unveiled today by the Department for Education.

The new test will consist of one 45-minute grammar exam and one 15-minute spelling assessment. It will

replace the discredited written component of national curriculum tests – known as Sats – sat by 11-year-old

pupils, which was scrapped in 2011.

The move is a key part of Michael Gove’s ongoing education reforms to improve literacy among school

pupils. Primary school results released last week showed nearly 500 schools had missed targets for the

‘three Rs’.

The writing composition Sats test was scrapped in 2011 because of concerns over inconsistent marking and

fears young children struggled to come up with creative prose under formal test conditions.

The new exam, which is more focused, will assess pupils on correct use of punctuation, appropriate grammar

usage including knowledge of nouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions and the correct use of tenses and pronouns

such as “I” and “me”. The tests will form part of the ‘writing’ component of Sats alongside existing teacher

assessments of pupils’ written composition skills.

The grammar component will test pupils on their understanding of principles such as where to insert commas

in a sentence, how to use colons and semicolons correctly, and when to use personal, relative and possessive

pronouns.

The spelling assessment will ask pupils to correctly spell commonly misspelt words such as permanent,

preferred and desperately.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The new, rigorous spelling, punctuation and grammar tests

will drive up standards in primary schools.

“Too little attention has been given to these core skills. It is vital that pupils are confident in key writing

techniques.

It was also revealed that key GCSE subjects will be revamped to include specific marks allocated for correct

spelling, punctuation and grammar.

The reforms are part of the Department for Education's efforts to address concerns from universities and

employers that too many pupils arrive without basic literacy and numeracy skills despite having passed

national curriculum tests.

Earlier today mathematics experts from the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (Acme), which

advises the Government on maths education, revealed plans for a new higher maths qualification for sixth-

form students who do not wish to study the subject as one of their main A-levels.

The qualification, which includes questions requiring problem-solving in real-life settings through applied use

of statistics and probabilities, is expected to be embraced by ministers. Details will be set out in a report due to

be published later this week.

This weekend Michael Gove told the Telegraph that he was close to announcing something "not quite as

demanding as an A-level" aimed at students between 16 and 18 who are not studying maths or science A-

levels.

He said: "The final piece of the jigsaw will come out shortly, for more academic students, to make sure there

are courses and qualifications for them to carry on doing mathematics until the age of 18, even if they are

doing humanities.

"We want to be able to support people to integrate into education post-16 a way of maintaining mathematical

fluency even if, for example, they are planning to do modern languages at university.

"The economic crisis through which we are now living is a crisis of maths because people relied on dodgy

equations to do the work for them."

He added that the Government is spending more money on mathematics than any other subject and has

recruited 300 graduates on £11,000 bursaries to be maths specialists in primary schools, or maths teachers in

secondary schools.