Cameron has the wrong right idea but the wrong solution

[MissMillament]

according to this idiot
news.tes.co.uk/b/opinion/2015/04/08/39-the-tories-have-the-right-idea-but-the-wrong-solution-hold-pupils-back-a-year-to-set-them-free-from-failure-39.aspx
He believes we should be holding back the kids who 'fail' their KS2 sats. I couldn't disagree more.

He is a Teach-Firster, from the show Tough Young Teachers. Not much experience, and as a business studies teacher probably has very few dealings with KS3. His subject is also optional, unlike maths and English.

He also apparently doesn't know that the German system of schooling has been condemned by the UN.

I wonder how much research he has done into school systems that hold children back before announcing his solution.

I remember him from the show, Noble. Didn't think he would last, tbh. As you say, with his specialism it is unlikely he does much KS3 teaching. All I can say is that as someone who DOES teach a core suject at KS3 I know that my colleagues and I work extremely hard at making sure ALL our Y7s get the support they need to make progress and if I were a primary colleague I would be deeply insulted at the idea that I hadn't also done my best for my pupils.

Since the introduction of phonics in 2007, the key stage 1 reading comprehension results have gone up by 5 percentage points - 8 for children with SEN. Yet we know from many sources that some schools are teaching phonics much less effectively than they might be. The government should be putting its energy into tackling this problem, not trying to "catch up" older children in secondary who it would have been better to teach properly in the first place.

The government and primary schools should also be looking at ways of more effectively and explicitly teaching vocabulary and general knowledge. Reading psychologists are now suggesting that disadvantaged children arrive at school with a serious shortfall in these areas, compared to children from middle class families, and that this is also a primary source of reading problems.

He was the Teach First guy in the programme who cried when he got lesson feedback wasn't he?

Yes, the one who wrote a poem in the toilets.

And now he's having his opinions published in the TES? Lord help us.

I'm sure Gove et al would love this young chap - set primary and secondary school teachers against each other. Just what the profession needs.

If he honestly thinks that primary schools are not accountable enough for a child's progress and attainment, then he really is in cloud cuckoo land.

Ye gads. I was amazed he passed, tbh. He was bloody awful. And now second in charge. Sigh.

I wonder what a chap like this has to say to his colleagues about literacy across the secondary curriculum. Or whether he makes any interventions to assist those in his subject improve their reading and writing.

2nd in charge of a department of 2 obviously qualifies him to talk about standards in English and maths!

If children are going to start resitting year 6, how big are class sizes going to be?

Surely staying in yr 6 in potentially a class of 40 has got to be worse than moving onto high school and being in a set of 12ish for English and maths?

Ugh I remember him. He really doesn't have a clue does he

Why is the TES publishing this? He's hardly an authority, is he?

In Germany, if a young person isn’t up to the standards of the gymnasium (grammar school), they may progress into a hauptschule – for the non-German speakers, "general school" – which helps learners move towards vocational education. So instead of a Year 6 pupil following their friends into gymnasium, they would venture elsewhere.
He hasn't quite done his homework on this. Many German schools are moving away from holding children back, although some primary schools have introduced a system in which children can complete the first two years of primary education in either one, two or three years, by using mixed-age classes.
They also don't just have the choice between "Gymnasium" and "Hauptschule" (I think in Bavaria they might, but they are a slightly special state all by themselves). Those, wo don't make it into grammar school (after Year 4, based on teacher assessment/parental preference depending on the state) generally move to a "Realschule" or "Mittelschule". Most parents don't want their children to go to a Hauptschule...in many states, that's one tiny step up from being sent to special school, which is why they are being disbanded.
It's also possible to switch between schools and streams during secondary and a lot of it is based on parental choice. Not many children go to independent schools...unless they've got 'issues'.