Govey and the new 11+

I'm all for grammar being important but is another exam really the best way to ensure children learn it well? Sounds like another hoop for teachers to jump through and another confused step in the wrong direction to me.

Looking at the draft proposals for the new English Curriculum there is little that is very new in the content. The plan seems to test it more 'formally' and not so much in the context of a piece of writing. So not testing if kids can use and apply their English skills and knowledge well when writing a story /report/ account of something etc but that they can do grammar & punctuation exercises out of context. Fluent joined handwriting, spelling, grammar and punctuation HAVE ALWAYS been expected and taught.

Govegrind just wants it to look like it did when he was a boy. He obviously is not a very divergent thinker and can only see one way (his experience) to do anything!!

Results will drop for a year or so whilst teachers get used to teaching the style requirements the new test then go up again & Gove will claim the political credit!! It's all a bloody game & kids /schools are stuck in it. I would not mind if I thought he really cared about children but I feel it is all his personal political ideology and not based on broad educational research or expertise.

I was also struggling to find how it differed from the current SATs test nanaej. I would be very surprised if decontextualising the processes helped; it never has in the past!
Of course, as we know, the real problem at Key Stage 2 is how far the performance of boys lags behind in writing. I am always a bit surprised (irony emoticon) how people can blame the teachers for standards at the end of Key Stage 2, without explaining how it is that they can get far more girls to the required standard than boys.
Perhaps it is because education is a far more complex business than Ministers and some education journalists seem to understand.

there are different learning styles - learning by doing/experiencing , and understanding the relevance to real life are important to many, otherwise they turn off . Dry, theoretical, didactic teaching is only going to work for the few. Arguably the "traditional approach" will encourage that.

Thought this Goveism would entertain you Jess.... (or not)
www.telegraph.co.uk/education/9381101/Michael-Gove-attacks-local-worthies-who-become-school-governors-for-the-badge-of-status.html

Perhaps he's never caught up with the girls?

I agree with what he said in that article, apart from the bit about school governors (because I don't personally know anyone who is one).

I was!

And I'm sure you were made a wonderful job of it, jeni, as did/does any other GNetter! I suppose there must be those who only do it for the prestige, though.

Take out that 'were', please!

Jess is a Chair of Governors and I think Annobel was one for many years. I have met and worked with hundreds of governors and I don't recognise the stereotype at all, as indeed I don't recognise the stereotypes in the rest of his statement. This is all misrepresentation and spin.
I have yet to understand how making an exam harder will raise standards, especially for the least able pupils.

Time warp man!
Governing bodies used to be stuffed with local councillors who wanted to have "school governor" on their election address.
In ten years I have once been used in this way - sign up, get elected and then leave.
Why would anyone else want to give up their evenings just for the glory of saying they are a governor ????????

What a complete and utter that man is. A baboon's at that.
Truth to tell he is already shaking it up by forcing the academy issue. Under Academy with sponsor status, GB has no effective independence at all. One of the reasons I am giving up.

My GD attends a school where grammar, sentence construction, apostrophes etc are part and parcel of learning - she's 7. Why can't this be the case in every school? The teachers at her school are no different in their training to other schools. Mr Gove is making a proverbial mountain out of a proverbial molehill. Just let teachers get on with the job and teach.

It is the case in every other school, goldengirl. It is required by the National Curriculum and inspected by Ofsted. Gove knows this, although I suspect that the press is mostly pretty ignorant about state schools. The rest is spin. Nobody should be complacent about standards because there is still a lot that needs to improve, but what you don't need to do is constantly change the curriculum and the tests. As you say, people just need to be allowed to get on with the job.

I have to admit when I left teacher training college in 1970 the theme then was along the lines of 'self expression' and teachers were not encouraged to formerly teach grammar - or even correct it. Not one for taking things lying down I'm afraid I did teach grammar and hopefully my classes found it helpful as they got older.