Turning of the primary screw

The English primary school performance tables published in Jan. 1998 show that Education Secretary David Blunkett faces a daunting task to achieve his targets of having 80% of 11-year-olds reaching level 4 in English and 75% in maths by 2002. The tables show that 63% of 11-year-olds reached level 4 in English and 62% in maths in the key stage 2 tests in summer 1997. However much has happened since the 1980s when level 4 was set as what might be expected of the average 11-year-old and the tests may no longer be an appropriate embodiment of the Government's ideals of literacy and numeracy.