UK MPs perform worse than 10-year-olds in Maths, English exam: Report

Parliamentarians in the United Kingdom recently took an exam and scored lower than average 10-year-olds, a report said. The event was organised by More Than A Score, a campaign that advocates for the scrapping of unnecessary tests.

When given English and Math examinations, British MPs and peers performed worse on average than 10-year-olds. The test, invigilated by 11-year-olds, at an event in London was attended by MPs, including Commons education select committee chair Robin Walker, the Guardian said. More Than A Score, a campaign that promotes the abolition of pointless examinations, organised the event.

Only 44 per cent of the cross-party group of parliamentarians earned the required standard in Maths, while barely 50 per cent obtained the desired standard in spelling, punctuation, and grammar, the report said.

"The pressure in the room is palpable as MPs sit the #SATs exam in Westminster under the exact conditions Year 6's experience #BSSI" the campaign group wrote on Twitter. 

Across the UK, 59 per cent of children aged 10 and 11 met the required standard in the SATs tests of Maths, reading, and writing this year, indicating that the MPs did substantially worse than the 10-year-olds.

The aim of the More Than A Score event was to make politicians realise that the high-pressure exams "only judge schools but do not help children’s learning".

Even if the campaign may not have been able to persuade MPs to completely abolish the examinations, it did force them to realise the strain kids feel. Robin Walker acknowledged the requirement for exam reform for students in grades 10 to 11.