Thaindian News

London, Dec 17 (IANS) Hundreds of new schoolteachers in Britain are going to teach pupils in their classrooms despite having struggled themselves up to 39 attempts to clear even basic literacy and numeracy tests.

Trainee teachers are required to pass the online tests to qualify for their chosen profession. But many of them are joining schools despite having repeatedly failed straightforward online tests of their basic skills, the Daily Mail reported.

Eight percent of the candidates needed to take three or more re-sits before they passed the literacy test, a number that increases to 10 percent for the numeracy test. According to figures released by the department Of education, some teachers took more than 10 attempts before finally passing.

One teacher sat the literacy test a total of 36 times before finally passing, while another candidate had 39 attempts at the numeracy test, it has been revealed.

The tests, taken on a computer at a registered teacher training centre, are designed to ensure all teachers have the basic skills required to carry out their duties, such as working out class grades or writing report letters.

As per this year’s figures, a total of 6,740 teachers needed to re-sit the literacy exam and 6,440 had to have a second go at the numeracy test. Of these, 760 required five or more attempts at the literacy paper, with 40 logging 10 or more attempts to pass.

In the numeracy test, 1,290 teachers made five or more attempts to pass the computer test, with 160 taking up the exam 10 times or more.

The literacy test checks applicants on their punctuation, grammar, comprehension and spelling on words such as ‘available’, ‘immediately’, ‘receipt’, ‘argumentative’ and ‘accommodates’.