New SATs test on times tables

[BatmanLovesBaubles]

TES link

First three paragraphs:

All children will be tested on their times tables as part of their KS2 Sats, under new plans unveiled by education secretary Nicky Morgan this morning.

The tests will examine multiplication skills in every 11-year-old as part of ministers' "war on innumeracy and illiteracy", the Department for Education said.

Pupils will expected to know all tables up to 12x12, with the skill measured using an "on-screen check" examination to be piloted by 3,000 students in 80 schools this summer before being rolled out across English primaries in 2017.

I am so cross about this.

1. Why remove the Mental Maths test (which did test times tables)
2. More timed tests are NOT what we should be doing at primary where many children already feel under pressure
3. Maths is an area where children often panic and their minds become blank - this is really not going to help
4. What happened to Nicky Morgan's promise that nothing new would be introduced?

I am so, so angry right now

Rafa, I'm not saying parents should teach it. Obviously, the introduction and explanation part has been done at school, and learning(remembering by heart) part was done as homework, thus no involvement of parents.

When I taught Y2 we sang our times tables every morning and had a daily "test" (50 questions in 2 minutes) and most left Y2 knowing all their tables to 12X

Of course they are taught in school! I am suggesting the memorising happens at home as well as at school. A child who leaves primary school not knowing their tables should reflect as badly on their parents as it does on the school.

I can see if the test had been announced for Y4's then their would be outcry that the children were to young to learn times tables. Some on here seem to say Y6 is to late. Just because the test is in Y6 does not mean schools cant teach the tables in Y4. Then two years later they should know them so well any test would be as easy as reading monosyllabic words. Ten minutes on a computer pressing a few numbers will be more playtime than testing manga high anyone?.

I would challenge any teacher to show me a kid who knows all their times tables by rote but does not understand that 6x7 is just one more seven than 5x7.

Parents would not have a problem going over them at home, a more common complaint I hear is that schools dont set any enough homework. SATs aren't high stakes for children and I think its perfectly reasonable for parents to know how good schools are at teaching the core subjects before they choose to send their DC there.

Sorry, I hadn't seen your post irvine. I was talking more about one of the posts above yours that suggested memorising was a waste of curriculum time.

It needn't take that much time. 5-10mins a day, if that would be plenty for most children to be secure by the end of yr4.

Bolognese it's always been a requirement of the National Curriculum (old and new) that children know all times tables by the end of Y4. That's been the expectation since 1988.

Didn't the NC only specify by end of KS2? I didn't think it could specify actual year groups. The original NNS from 1999 did though.

If the knowing tables by end of YR4 has been requirement since 1988, why are they start testing now at YR6? Why they say so many children leave primary without it? Sounds like something is completely wrong with the system.

It makes a great sound bite the day before schools go back after Christmas

Its more like a lot of schools didn't try that hard to teach the times tables and if it was brought in at Y4 teachers would probably be out on strike at the 'perceived' increase in workload.

I think there's a huge number of answers to that question irvine.

A few possibilities:
Different ideas about what 'knowing tables' means - chanted by rote, sequential counting, random questions, knowing inverse calculation as well
A belief that understanding is more important than knowing facts so learning the facts isn't given as much emphasis. Being able to work it out is seen as being as good as rapid recall or in some cases better
It's never been tested as a stand alone objective. There was a mental maths test which had some multiplication in but in terms of the written SATs it's assumed knowledge. Those having to work the tables out would probably just take longer to complete the paper or end up with a lower mark but it might be disguised by all the questions that don't require that knowledge.

irvine & Bolognese absolutely

there are even justifications on this thread why kids don't know their tables at the end of y6

...parents fault...
...jammed curriculum...
...too much testing...

it is not supposed to be for a sound bite...

I'm not sure how widespread any of those reasons are though.

Like Rafa says, if they did 5mins everyday at start of lesson or something, surely it wouldn't be any increase in workload, and achievable by most children by end of YR4?

The whole problem is that tests don't tell parents how good a school is at teaching core subjects. The worlds crappest teachers and school could (and do) get great results with the right cohort, and the worlds best teachers and school could (and do) get below target results with the wrong cohort. Testing for times tables would be equally pointless.

Good point lurked.

The bit about using it to judge teachers from the BBC article was a bit ominous too. Which teachers? The poor yr 6 teacher or all the teachers.

Time stabiles soundbites are what politicians do to distract the public from other things

Not that I'm cynical about Ms Morgan's motives 🙉🙊🙊

Ds is in Y4 and knows all of his timestables up to x12! His school have various 'games' each week which helps them with their quick recall. Tbh I assumed this was the requirement already, I was slightly surprised when I heard it was being introduced as a test in Y6, I agree with others that it should be introduced much earlier.

The test will be new the requirement has been around for nearly thirty years

I think the school would be blamed first, and then in turn the school would blame the y6 teacher. Regardless of whether there is a valid reason for failing. And a school with good leadership and good teachers that fails would be in the position dds primary has often been- skating very close to the wind with ofsted and slated, despite having done brilliantly by all the children. And of course the more the school is slated, the more likely it is involved parents with able children will avoid it, so it becomes a vicious circle.

Not to worry, there won't be many year 6 teachers left, we will all be on capability procedures after this year's SATS results come out.

Hope that's not the case, the Y6 teacher at Ds school is wonderful!