Teachers face ‘bureaucratic nightmare’

The country’s largest teaching unionalso warned that the plans, announced by Nick Clegg today, could see a “modern-day version of the discredited and deeply damaging 11-plus system”.

“Producing performance tables which rank individual pupils against their peers nationally could also result in children being labelled as failures at an early age,” said General Secretary Chris Keates.

“The Government should consider carefully whether this sensitive information should be made available to other schools given the risk of a return to an 11-plus system of selection.”

She added:

“The Deputy Prime Minister may inadvertently be heralding the expansion of selective education so favoured by the Conservative Party.”

Nick Clegg said tests at 11 would help “more children across the bar so that they are ready to do well on the first day of secondary school”.

“Pupils are already tested in the last year of primary school,” he told the BBC.

“Parents and teachers already get marks – level five, level four, level three – which distinguish one pupil from another.

“What we are saying is why don't we give teachers and parents not a sort of name-and-shame league table, not something we would publish so that people are denigrated or celebrated one against each other, but give parents and teachers just a bit of information about how the boys and girls in that last year of primary school are doing compared to other boys and girls on our primary school system."

Mr Clegg also announced an increase in the pupil premium for disadvantaged primary school children from £900 this year to £1,300 next year.

Ms Keates welcomed that but said schools will need to be assured that it is additional money at a time when schools have been subject to year-on-year real term cuts.

“Schools will also be concerned that as a result of the Government’s changes to the welfare benefits system, fewer families will qualify for free school meals and may miss out on access to additional support,” she said.