Editor's letter...

Published: 17 September, 2009

Welcome to our new-look Education Today. We have overhauled the layout and structure of the magazine and hope that it will reflect the many aspects of school life encountered by education professionals on a daily basis.

As the nation heads back to school after another frankly disappointing British summer, we are faced with the disturbing news that the number of 11-year-olds passing Sats in English has fallen for the first time since the exam was introduced in 1995.

An estimated 115,000 children, one in five, left primary school last month two years behind their classmates, unable to read and write to the required standard.

There have been calls for the deeply unpopular Sats exams to be scrapped but the Government continues to stand by them. They have spent £2 billion since 1997 to improve literacy and numeracy but results are getting worse and not better.

Let us know what you think. We will run a poll on our website www.education-today.co.uk - should Sats be scrapped? - have your say!

Stephanie Norbury

Editor

Education Today