I've just taken a quiz based on the KS2 Standard Test (SAT). Thanks to the Enfield Independent for producing this. I got eight out of 10; I guessed three answers!
Now I'm an author and member of the society of authors. In 30 years as a writer and editor I have never needed to know most of this grammar and I'm sure that knowing it would not have improved my writing. We all need to know how to write correctly but no-one except a researcher in linguistics needs to know this kind of stuff. It's a gross waste of time for both pupils and teachers. Worse, it drives out things that do matter like comprehension, creative writing and critical thinking.
Even worse, it creates huge anxieties amongst pupils and teachers. My wife, who teaches KS1 and 2, has seen children in tears due to the pressures these tests create.
Their main purpose seems to be to allow ministers to claim to be improving standards. What rot!
Let's give teachers more control. Let's keep ministers and their obsessive grammatical compulsions out of our classrooms!
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