§ 33. Mr. Rathboneasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether the basic standards of teaching reading, writing and arithmetic in primary schools are improving.
§ Mr. DunnThe evidence available on reading standards of 11-year-olds is consistent with a rising trend in standards between 1955 and 1976–77. No comparable information is available on long-term trends in national standards of attainment in writing and mathematics in primary schools. The assessment of performance unit has conducted surveys of 11-year-olds' performance in mathematics since 1978 and in language, including both reading and writing, since 1979. The period covered by these surveys is too short for any significant trend in standards to emerge, but the surveys will provide a baseline for comparison with future work.