New English exams for 14-year-olds 'too easy'

"Pupil friendly" exams are to be introduced for 14-year-olds as part of the first overhaul of national curriculum tests since they were introduced a decade ago.

The move has prompted fears by opposition MPs that the changes will make the tests easier, to coincide with new government targets to improve standards.

Pupils will be given an "exam break" of about half an hour between separate tests on reading and comprehension and on writing, instead of completing the test without a rest. A similar break between reading and writing tests will be introduced in separate Shakespeare exams.

In addition, test papers will be laid out in a more eye-catching and readable fashion to make their content more digestible to 14-year-olds.

The changes, to be introduced next year, will also allow the most gifted pupils to take the stage-one tests early – possibly at the age of six instead of seven.

The shake-up of English tests for 14-year-olds is causing the most controversy – raising fears of an attempt to make them easier in response to challenging new targets for 75 per cent to reach the required standard in maths and English by 2004.

Ministers introduced the targets because they were worried by the lack of pro-gress – with achievement figures, which are meant to rise year by year, stagnating in the mid-sixties for both maths and English. The Government also plans to publish the results of the tests for 14-year-olds in league tables.

Damian Green, the Conservatives' Education spokesman, said: "If you're going to try to compare results year-on-year, making the tests easier to comprehend will invalidate that process. It is legitimate to be suspicious about the coincidence of the timing of these changes. It could be seen as an attempt to fiddle the figures."

John Dunford, the general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said the tests for 14-year-olds would become more "high stakes" with schools because of the decision to publish the results.

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the Government's exams watchdog, is adamant that the standards of the tests will not change.

It argues there have been "inconsistencies" between the English tests for 14-year-olds and those at 7 and 11. The new format, of separate papers for reading/comprehension and writing to be sat, lets pupils receive marks for each – as with the assessment tests earlier in their schooling.

The half-hour gap between the 75-minute reading test and the 45-minute writing test would "give pupils a break". Evidence showed pupils had spent a lot of time on the reading/comprehension section of the tests and then rushed the writing section. Ministers have been concerned about the lack of progress in writing at secondary school – especially among boys.

A spokesman for the authority said: "The changes from 2003 have been designed to promote greater consistency in assessment."