QUESTION: - Are schools better at teaching Maths than English?

Recent reports would suggest not, and some children may even be going backwards!

Academics from Manchester University (but what do they know?) said there were "short-term" increases in children's maths skills as they took national tests at the end of primary school but many regressed after the exam. Many a teacher will have witnessed similar regression on a daily basis, with many such children regressing to some primeval being, incapable of social skills let alone mathematical or (understandable) language skills!

The experts claimed that almost one in four 11-year-olds failed to reach the standards expected of them in maths this year, whilst the remaining 65% only just scraped by.

Fifteen-year-olds were ranked 24th in the world in the study by the OECD - below the international average.
Manchester researchers devised independent maths tests to measure the performance of 12,591 pupils aged between five and 14. The experts stated that this 12-year period was critical to the development of the children concerned.

Earlier this year, the Tories compared recent results gained at the age of 11 with those gained at age 14.

They found that almost 150,000 pupils made no progress in science, while 85,000 failed to improve their grades in English and 30,000 in maths. David Cameron allegedly stated that this added up to 2.65 million children who were failing to reach their potential, although he later added that he may have got the decimal point in the wrong place, and that the batteries in the Tory party's calculator may need replacing.

They (whoever they are!) said that the problem was due to the number of mixed ability classes in secondary schools.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families described the study as a "small sample", insisting that "independently audited national tests" taken by 600,000 pupils every year showed clear improvement in the 15 years since record began in1997.