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Significant improvement is needed in the achievement of 14-year-olds taking national SATs tests in English, maths and science.

Schools Minister Jim Knight said on Tuesday that "significant improvement" is needed in the achievement of 14-year-olds taking national SATs tests in English, maths and science.

Results released for tests taken at schools in England earlier this summer showed that results are continuing to plateau, after several years of steady progress.

By 2011, some 74 percent of 14-year-olds should be achieving the expected Level 5 standard or above in both English and maths, under a target for pupils set by the government in April.

But the figures, released by the Office for National Statistics, revealed that the proportion reaching at least Level 5 in both subjects dipped one percentage point to 66 percent, back to the result last seen in 2005.

"We've got to see some significant improvements over the next couple of years," said Knight.

In English he said the results "show us needing to achieve some form of step-change to move on from where we have been in the last four years."

The Conservatives said the results showed the government has failed for a further year to improve basic educational standards.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers said the tests are an irrelevance and should be scrapped, while the head teachers' union, the Association of School and College Leaders, said far too much emphasis is put on the exams.

The SATs tests, first introduced by the Conservatives in 1994, have become a backbone of the government's education policy since Labour came to power in 1997.

However, improvements in the results have slowed over recent years after a strong increase in children's performances in the late 90s.

This year, the exams have been dogged by administrative problems with thousands of pupils failing to receive their results by the end of term as expected because of problems with marking.

Delays in the delivery of results by new marking company ETS Europe meant that only 84 percent of English papers have been included in the release of figures.

The provisional results show that in English the proportion reaching Level 5 dipped one percentage point to 73 percent.

In Maths there was a one point rise to 77 percent in those gaining at least Level 5, with science suffering a 2 point fall to 71 percent.

Related Tags :

• General
• National Curriculum
• Secondary Schools

Last Edited Date : August 13 2008 10:00 am