Uproar over mooted standardised test model

Primary teachers have voiced strong reservations about a new model aimed at improving literacy and numeracy standards in schools.

Several delegates at the INTO congress claimed the standardised system of testing pupils in reading and maths in second, fourth and sixth class, introduced last year, is flawed.

Results of the tests have to be given to boards of management and the Department of Education to establish national literacy and numeracy levels. Parents are informed about how their children do in the tests.