Policies will be challenged

Nicky Morgan, secretary of state for Education, now says that the idea all schools should become academies is an aspiration rather than an absolute.

Many will surely see this as a massive climb-down over one of their flagship policies and a humiliating one at that.

Tests for seven year olds are also to be scrapped for this year, after the paper was released in advance on a website.

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Many teachers were unhappy about these tests, which, it seems, involved the government clarifying issues about the tests on several occasions in the last few weeks. Teachers also questioned the value of what they were required to teach the children for these tests.

Let’s face it, teachers at the chalk-face are in the best position to know what is best for the children.

When, as a secondary school teacher, I inherited pupils from primary schools, one set of controlled writing, away from dictionaries and sibling and parental help, was enough to show me what I needed to know.

It showed me the level of their vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and handwriting, so I knew how to move them forward.

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The government said the release of the tests was due to ‘human error’ and was a ‘regrettable incident’.

One wonders how much this ‘regrettable incident’ has cost the taxpayer given half a million pupils were due to sit them.

Would we be more likely to see it , as an example of gross incompetence I wonder?

Then there is the question of whether Nicky Morgan, the secretary of state for education, knows how to spell the word sincerely.

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Is the government beginning to realise that the old days of ‘the government knows best’ are long gone and people will challenge them over policies they believe are wrong or unfair?

Power to the people!

Carole Woodland

Cooden Drive

Bexhill

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