Pupils of 11 to sit times tables tests from next year

ELEVEN-YEAR-OLDS will sit online times tables tests from next year, the Schools Minister revealed yesterday.

Nick Gibb insisted multiplication was a ‘very important part of mathematical knowledge’ and should be assessed at primary school.

It will be the first time a specific test on times tables has been introduced at Key Stage Two. The assessment, described by Mr Gibb as a ‘multiplication check’, will also be the first use of on-screen technology in national curriculum testing.

However, teaching leaders insisted that further tests are unnecessary and will place additional pressure on pupils who are already expected to learn their times tables throughout the primary curriculum.

Proposals for 11-year-olds to sit online tests for times tables up to 12 x 12 were first announced by then education secretary Nicky Morgan in January 2016.

But the move was later put on hold after her successor, Justine Greening, said that there would be no new national tests or assessments introduced before 2018.

Giving evidence to the Commons Education Select Committee yesterday, Mr Gibb confirmed that the new tests will go ahead.

Asked about times tables tests, he said: ‘I think it is an issue of policy. It is my view that there should be a multiplication check. It was in our manifesto in 2015. We think times tables are a very important part of mathematical knowledge.’

He went on to say that if a child is trying to perform long multiplication or division then they would need to know their times tables.

Mr Gibb added: ‘It’s why it was in our manifesto. It’s why we are introducing a multiplication check in 2018/19.’ From next year, pupils in the final year of primary school will be asked to give timed responses to a series of online multiplication questions.

The tests will be scored instantly, which the Department for Education has insisted will make it eas- ier for teachers to carry out the evaluations. It will also provide an ‘ immediate snapshot’ of how pupils are performing. Since September 2014, a tougher primary school curriculum has been introduced, and pupils are now expected to know their 12 x 12 times tables by the age of nine.

Previously, children only had to know the 10 x 10 times table by the end of primary school.

Malcolm Trobe, of the Association of School and College Leaders, yesterday criticised introducing further tests. He said: ‘The question is, is this level of testing really necessary for youngsters at the age of 11?

‘We say, probably not, because youngsters are learning this already through the curriculum.’

Earlier, Ofqual chief Sally Collier told the committee that the Government should be ‘extremely cautious’ about further changes to primary assessment.