Let me be quite clear; there is no need to reinvent the wheel. When it comes to equipping our primary pupils with the basic skills they need in later life many good things have happened in recent years and this includes the widespread agreement amongst teachers that there needs to be more focus on the 3Rs. Speak to most primary school teachers and heads and they will tell you that the intention of the 5-14 programme in this respect was good, that many of the accompanying materials were good, and that the system was better able to cater for the diverse needs of different pupils. Yet, despite these good intentions, overall standards have not improved. Why?
In my view, this is because there have been too many escape-routes, meaning that the 5-14 programme was neither water-tight nor sufficiently rigorous when it came to testing reading, writing and arithmetic. There was an understanding that teachers would use the tests only when they felt that the pupil had reached the level to pass or when that teacher wanted to confirm his or her own judgment about the skills of the pupil. It was therefore far too easy for there to be different approaches to testing in different parts of Scotland.
Sometimes this happened because heads or local authorities wanted to ensure the timing of the tests articulated with the publication of their school’s performance results.
Sometimes there was a reluctance to apply the tests on a uniform basis because there was the perception that they would be too stressful an experience for many of the children.
I do not believe that this is an acceptable state of affairs. Teachers are, on the whole, a highly professional group of people - increasingly so these days as a result of the very high standards in teacher training – and they are perfectly capable of administering these tests properly and allaying the anxieties of pupils and parents. So, I’m afraid I don’t swallow these excuses.
Teaching the basic skills is a long, continuous process and they won’t be acquired just because pupils are asked to sit stand alone papers in literacy and numeracy in S4, or perhaps S3, which is one of the current proposals within SQA reform. Personally, I would much rather we concentrated our efforts in primary schools to establish these skills sooner rather than later and so that is why the Scottish Conservatives laid an amendment before the Scottish Parliament two weeks ago which called for more rigorous testing of reading, writing and arithmetic by the time a pupil leaves Primary 7. If we are working enthusiastically towards the Curriculum for Excellence, I think it is essential that we have nationally agreed staging posts along the way. Many in the profession recommend this would be most appropriate at primary 4 and at primary 7.
Some argue we don’t need tests at all, but, sadly, the fact remains that far too many pupils in Scotland do not currently meet basic standards in literacy and numeracy.
Understandably this presents these pupils with difficulties when they enter secondary school, tertiary education and the world of work. It is very often a reason why they lack confidence and become disengaged from education altogether. That has to change and I believe all political parties recognise the support we need to give the teaching profession when it comes to ensuring there is more rigorous testing of the 3Rs in primary schools.
For generations, Scotland had a proud record in doing just th