In response to the
recently publicised government’s plans to changes in Education, such as higher
standards in English, The National Association for the Teaching of English
states that the plans will ‘impoverish’ teaching.
Its chairman, Dr Simon Gibbons, chairman of the
association and expert in English education at King’s College, London, says the
reforms are based on ministers' "diminishing memories of their own grammar-
and public-school educations". He warns that such an approach will turn
pupils off the subject.
He told the BBC News website: "Most English
teachers try to teach grammar in context rather than through formal exercises.
There's very little evidence of a benefit to teaching grammar in that way.
He also criticised plans to introduce a new
national grammar test, called the technical aspects of English, for all pupils
in the top year of primary school.
The test, which will be sat for the first time by
pupils next summer, measures children's ability to "demonstrate their
knowledge of grammatical tests", he said.
The Department for Education said the draft
programmes of study were subject to an informal consultation to invite debate.
It added: "The draft programme of study for
English at primary school will be far more rigorous than before.
"It will demand higher standards from pupils
aged five to 11, with a higher expectation of what children should know as they
go through primary school.
"Its aim is that children in England will
leave primary school with a strong command of written and spoken English, and
high standards of literacy."
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