Using the middle years
Children often slip back when they transfer from primary to secondary school.
Michael Barber suggests changes that will help
In the Eighties the education debate was all about the final years of schooling,
in the Nineties primary education has become the focus. But about those years
between 11 and 14, there has been scarcely a whisper. Soon, however, the
middle years will find themselves at the centre of a pincer movement. The
Government's literacy and numeracy strategies will transform primary education
and secondary schools will see the younger age group as the key to further
progress.
There are three fundamental problems: the foundations of learning have not
been provided properly at primary level; the transfer from primary to secondary
school is little short of disastrous; and the curriculum, pedagogy and organisation
of the middle years are inadequate.
Most secondary schools inherit pupils with a wide range of standards in the
basics. A gap in maths and English has opened up by the age of seven and
it widens in the remaining years of primary education. By 11, there is a
range of six years in reading age and even more in mathematical ability.
Many secondary teachers decide to assume that every
child can read and write well, simply to get them through the day: As a
result, a significant minority
of pupils becomes disaffected and falls even further behind. Over-represented
are the "lost boys" who failed to learn to read and write well
by 11 and never recover.
The transfer from primary to secondary school is
also fraught with difficulty. A study commissioned by the Department for
Education and Employment shows
many pupils regressing in their first year of secondary education — the
time of the biggest drop in literacy standards, according to another survey
by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. More than a third slip back
in reading, writing and mathematics.
The evidence suggests that most pupils begin secondary education on a wave
of enthusiasm. The problem is better attributed to misunderstandings between
primary and secondary teachers, and low expectations of what pupils can achieve
in the first years of secondary education.
When the national curriculum was introduced, it was widely assumed that one
benefit would be clear records of what each child had achieved, which could
pass from teacher to teacher and school to school. In fact, this has happened
only patchily, and the shortage of records is compounded by a lack of respect
among secondary teachers for what primary schools have achieved. Secondary
teachers often set out to establish a new baseline, testing pupils again
in their first term after transfer. Because the pupils have had a long break
and find themselves in an uncertain environment, they don't score as well
as they could. Their new teachers assume that the primary school records
were wrong and low expectations are built in from the start.
The transfer study shows that by the end of their first year in secondary
school, pupils feel better adjusted socially, but their enjoyment of work
and motivation have fallen away markedly. For some, this fall becomes permanent.
Perhaps because of the pressures of public examinations, schools tend to
deploy their best teachers with older pupils. The younger classes are the
first to be allocated a substitute teacher, and the percentage of poor lessons
viewed by inspectors is higher than at any other phase. Pupils pick up the
message and often become preoccupied with their friendships. An anti-work
peer culture develops, with at least 10 per cent behaving badly and truanting
and another 20-30 per cent disillusioned.
Yet it does not have to be this way: I am confident that we can make the
middle years the best years of schooling. The Government's investment in
the early years, combined with its literacy and numeracy strategies, are
reasons for optimism. Like any huge cultural shift, it is challenging as
it involves 20,000 schools and 200,000 teachers. But it is beginning to work
and, if we succeed, the foundations for the middle years will, for the first
time, be built on rock rather than sand.
To take advantage of these improvements, primary and secondary schools will
have to build bridges, not just in the bureaucracy of record-keeping, but
socially through induction days, and in terms of the curriculum, teaching
methods and the management of learning. A framework to improve transition
is beginning to emerge, with summer schools to improve literacy and numeracy,
and secondary teachers training to take account of the literacy strategy.
The middle years should be so busy, so demanding, so active, so adventurous
that adolescents should barely have time for introspection. They should learn
not only about the curriculum, but also about how to work with others.
We must raise the sights of all pupils, catering more effectively for the
academically gifted without ever giving up on the basics. There must be a.
new commitment to ensuring that every young person understands the cultural
traditions and history of the country in
which they are growing up. Children must be allowed to express their individualism
and be given hope, no matter how unpromising their circumstances. The teaching
of thinking skills and more teamwork should help to improve results and deal
with the challenges of work, while citizenship programmes help teenagers
to live more fulfilled lives. I am not suggesting that traditional methods
should be dropped: I know they work well. I am saying we should use them
and do more besides.
Michael Barber
The Times, June 18 1999, page 47
• The author is head of the Standards and Effectiveness
Unit at the Department for Education and Employment
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