Nicky Morgan fesses up about what all the tests are really for

Hello Nicky Morgan here. Yes, you're right, I am no good spelling and my handwriting is really awful but that's got nothing to do with all these tests we're giving children, is it? The point is we didn't bring the test in because we think all children are going to get them all right. We know that most children will get something wrong. Of course they are.

And the tests aren't really about what they appear to be about: grammar, spelling, reading, writing, handwriting. All that is just a means to an end. We wanted to come up with something that we could use as a measurement. It could have been any old thing. And we happened to land on that one. There really is no point in looking too closely at whether it all hangs together as something that makes sense. It's just little bits of stuff that you have to get right or wrong. I hardly know any of it!


But, you see we get the measurements at the end of it. Data. Performance. That sort of thing. If there are good marks, we can say, well done us. If there are bad marks we can blame Labour for all the damage they did before and how there's so much more work to do. But as for the stuff itself, god knows what half of it's about! And who cares?