Labour to 'scrap times-tables tests' as Government vows to get tough on school absences
31 August 2024, 23:17
Labour could scrap traditional times tables tests at the behest of unions, according to reports.
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As the party vows to get tough on pupil absenteeism, teachers unions have proposed making the multiplication tests optional and simplifying Year Six SATs.
The proposals come as part of a series of changes posed to Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, for her curriculum and assessment review.
A union source told the Telegraph: “The times table tests should become optional.
"We are not saying children shouldn’t learn times tables. They are really helpful.
"But the need to have the times table check is a bit of an unnecessary waste of time.”
Professor Alan Smithers, director of the centre for education at Buckingham University told The Telegraph: “If the Government wants to give children the best possible start in life in the fundamentals of maths and English it should politely turn aside these requests.”
The suggestion come after the Government warned that parents who allow their children to skip school are damaging their potentioal.
Writing in the Sunday Times, Ms Phillipson said that she would "act decisively" to curb the "absence epidemic" which has gripped Britain's state schools since the onset of Covid.
