30th September 2011 12:23
By Blue Tutors
Official figures published this week suggest that tens of thousands of seven-year-old children are failing to meet basic standards of literacy and numeracy. The study suggests that after having been in school for 3 year, many students can only read the most basic words and perform the simplest sums. One of the most alarming figures revealed is that 83,000 seven-year olds cannot read at the level expected of most 4 year olds.
The figures published by the department for education also showed worrying trends in performance linked to both gender and background. Boys consistently performed significantly less well than girls at this age, whilst the gap between wealthier students and those to receive free school meals has reached an all-time high, with poorer students scoring an average of 20% lower than their classmates.
The department for education has responded to the results by emphasising the importance of focusing on basic skills at an early age. Recently, the number of people hiring a private tutor for primary school children has greatly increased, indicating that this message is getting through to parents of younger children. In the past parents have often waited until a child is about to begin GCSEs to hire a tutor but the trend is changing quickly as concerns about basic literacy and numeracy are increasing.