Two telling extracts from a piece in the Guardian:
“Ofsted’s annual report on primary education says that in maths and English, teachers are so intent on covering official objectives of lessons that they fail to check if real learning is taking place. It says children are passive for too long; there is too little speaking or listening, and too often teachers ask closed questions that prevent engagement with pupils, particularly boys. Low-attaining pupils leave classes for catch-up sessions that don’t relate to the lesson in hand, and are confused upon return. Underachievement isn’t spotted in years 3 and 4, because schools concentrate on getting year-6 children through Sats – yet a quarter leave without the skills they need for secondary school. This ends their chances as effectively as the 11-plus would have done; 90% never catch up.”
and
“Little improves at secondary school. Ofsted says maths lessons tend to be mechanistic rather than enlightening. It concludes that the improvement in national test results is as much due to better test technique as a rise in standards. In English, most 14-year-olds spend much of the year practising for Sats instead of learning to work independently or creatively. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority says that at all ages children find it difficult to write independently because they are usually given preset “scaffolds” to write from. It notes, almost forlornly, that on the rare occasions when children can make choices in their writing, “there is evidence that pupils find the sense of ownership motivating”.”