For the gory detail:
http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/assets/content/bcc/docs/schools/ad...
What if teachers of younger students only teach to this test and ignore other important topics?
They will need to cram vocab. - as are their English speaking peers.
> What if teachers of younger students only teach to this test and ignore other important topics?
The teachers explicitly don't teach to this test, and would be sanctioned if they did such that all the other areas of the syllabus were slipping. It is up to the parents to arrange preparation one way or another.
Having said that, the school work does overlap - they start to have time limits on tests, and as always there is a strong emphasis on reading, comprehension and vocabulary. However, the particular mechanics and mindset of the 11+ are not covered.
I'm starting to prepare my son to take it this time next year. Some observations so far:
- It exercises some core problems solving skills.
- It is a good arena for learning how exams work, particularly the time keeping, without getting mixed up with learning a large body of knowledge.
- Having a performance metric would appear to affect the whole education system (for the better).
- By removing those pupils who (at this point in time) do well on the 11+ into seperate schools, it allows the secondary schools and their teachers to concentrate on the next stratum of kids who are no longer in the shade.