Thousands of parents took their children out of school yesterday in protest against the primary curriculum and tests taken by six and seven-year-olds.
More than 45,000 people signed a petition organised by Let Our Kids Be Kids and attended hundreds of events across England for a day of “alternative learning” at museums and parks.
David Biltcliffe, a former lead inspector for Ofsted, said that teaching linguistic terms such as “fronted adverbials” at primary school was pointless because pupils were not tested on spelling or punctuation in secondary school.
“Tested knowledge of a good use of English is abandoned after the age of 11,” Dr Biltcliffe said. “Pupils peak at 11. It really is an educational scandal.
“No wonder so many people — rightly — complain about the poor standard of written English of many graduates. There is no specific, comparative testing at 16 about spelling and punctuation. Pupils can choose all their own language, words they think they can spell and the level of punctuation with which they think they can cope.
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“If pupils at 11 have to show that they know specific spellings, range of punctuation, homonyms, homophones, et cetera — and the government sets great store by this — why is there no need to do so after that age?”
Teenagers can lose marks at GCSE if they do not use correct spelling and punctuation, but do not face specific tests on vocabulary or grammar.
Parents protested against the key stage 1 tests, taken this month by six and seven-year-olds, which they say have upset and alienated children.
Tony Little, former head master of Eton College, criticised the way the tests were implemented but said that children should not be taken out of school. “It is not at all clear to me why [tests] need to be done in a formal way,” he said. “There are other school systems in the world where this is done without the children even knowing.”
Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted, said parents had been wrong to take their children out of school. “I understand testing can sometimes be stressful but I am also confident that most schools do everything they can to minimise the stress,” he said.
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Many head teachers are thought to be sympathetic to opposition to the tests, but councils said that parents could be fined if heads recorded their child’s absence as unauthorised.