Education Reforms - The Conservatives are Right

I have jsut watched Michael Gove on Andrew Marr and was, as ever, quite impressed with what I saw. The idea he is proposing to end KS2 SATs and to test when children enter secondary school is really well thought out. He quite rightly points out that many good secondary schools already test when children arrive and also that it would free up time at hte end of KS2 for teaching rather than preparing for SATs.

There is anotehr advantage as well. There is some concern that the knowledge gained from preparing for SATs is often temporary - that it is soon forgotten, because it is about the test rather than in the best interests of the student. Testing at the start of Autumn term will make sure that it is a test of embedded knowledge. Surely that is a useful benefit.