Weekly tests in primary schools 'insane'

A testing "insanity" is gripping primary schools, a teachers' union said yesterday, after research showed that thousands of children as young as seven were sitting tests every week in the three Rs.

The study, by Cambridge University researchers for the National Union of Teachers, indicated that half of seven-year-olds were being tested every week on their reading.

Pressure to do well in national performance tables was given as the reason for the growth in testing.

The study showed that art and drama had all but disappeared from the primary school timetable, despite the fact that children spend an average of two hours a week more in the classroom than they did a decade ago.

Nearly half the weekly timetable was taken up by maths or English lessons, said the researchers, professors Maurice Galton and John Macbeath from the University of Cambridge.

"Despite two reviews of the national curriculum since 1993, the amount of time for teaching each day does not allow for a broad and balanced primary curriculum," they concluded.

"Art, drama, music and ICT [information and communication technology] are being squeezed and are only partially covered by lunchtime and after-school clubs.

"In some schools, music typically is now allocated 30 minutes a week, while elsewhere art is dropped altogether for year six [the last year in primary school] until their tests have been completed. Time for science and technology has been cut back by an hour a week."

A breakdown on the amount of time spent on each subject per week showed the average primary school spending 5.76 hours on English and 4.91 hours on maths, but only 0.72 hours on music.

Doug McAvoy, general secretary of the NUT, said: "So much time is spent each week testing on the elements which are included in the national curriculum tests you have got a serious testing insanity.

"Primary education is the stage at which children are at their most enthusiastic and open to new ideas. Yet government pressures are increasing teachers' workload while squeezing creativity out of the classroom. That cannot be right."

The research showed 46.1 per cent of seven-year-olds had weekly tests on reading, while one in four had weekly maths tests. By the time pupils were 11, 37.8 per cent took weekly maths tests and 28 per cent weekly reading and written language tests.

Mr McAvoy said teachers were under pressure to improve standards in the three Rs because of league tables. He said the "magic moments" where a teacher could seize on something a child had brought into school and develop a whole lesson from it had disappeared from schools.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Skills said the Government's primary school strategy – which included the introduction of a compulsory reading hour and daily maths lesson – had delivered "the biggest leap in standards in history".