CCEA proposes reforms to Key Stage 3 education

The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) have called for the scrapping of Key Stage 3 testing for pupils.

The CCEA are proposing that the first two years of primary education be replaced by "foundation" learning and the ending of exams for first three years of secondary education.

In a fundamental restructuring of Key Stage 3 learning the nine core subject areas, plus religious education, would be replaced by: creative, expressive and physical development; language and literacy; mathematics and numeracy; personal development and 'the world around us'.

The move would change the educational requirements for 14-year-old pupils across Northern Ireland and was warmly welcomed by teachers unions.

NASUWT teachers' union Tom McKee said it was "a progressive development".

"I have no doubt that the proposals coming from the council will have the support of teachers right across the country. It is a progressive development," he said.

The review was compiled by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), which assessed over 2,700 pupils from 51 schools at Key stage 3 level.

One of the main findings of the review was that interest in education fell sharply for the majority of the pupils polled at Key Stage 3. Another worrying statistic uncovered by the review suggests that four per cent of schools were meeting the time targets set for study on the various subjects.

The council now proposes that more emphasis on personal development should be applied to primary schooling. These classes could involve emotional, health, safety and community understanding.

CCEA Chief Executive Gavin Boyd said: "We know that young people learn best when they can see the relevance of what is being taught and how it will be useful in real life. Yet the evidence presented in this study shows that our present curriculum does not create that sufficient relevance and motivation, and in some cases has quite the opposite effect."

Study director Dr John Harland said: "It (the report) shows that, while pupils saw value in the key skills of literacy, numeracy and ICT and generally felt they were making good progress, several serious problems with the key stage three curriculum were identified," he said.

(GMcG)