Millions spent on testing pupils

Wednesday, 20 August 2003 12:00 AM

The Government is spending more than £200million each year on testing secondary pupils.

Official figures for the cost of examinations have been obtained by the Liberal Democrats through a Parliamentary written answer.

This indicates a rise of nearly two thirds since Labour came to power, and is likely to add to criticism over the growth in testing in schools.

Lib Dem Shadow Education Secretary Phil Willis MP commented: 'These figures show that the Government spends more and more valuable education cash on testing, whilst less and less is devoted to teaching. Ministers have got their priorities all wrong.'

The Government has put extra resources into education, and although English education scored well in international studies by organisations like the OECD, teaching unions have regularly criticised education policy.

The same set of figures also shows that the cost of producing league tables has more than doubled under the present Government, adding to ongoing criticism of the use of league tables, which have been abolished by devolved governments.

When they were established, schools often accused the tables of being unrepresentative of the true work of schools, which were rated on results alone. The Government has attempted to resolve this criticism with figures that take account of the education standards of pupils entering the secondary schools, and this is likely to be behind the rapid rise in costs.

Secondary school testing cost a total of £228.3 million in 2001-2, while the cost of formulating league tables was £3.09 million in 2002.

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