Primary school teachers' poor 【C1】______ of English and maths is undermining the Government's literacy and numeracy strategies, an official evaluation has concluded.
【C2】______ in teachers' knowledge of their subject and weaknesses in their teaching methods are threatening to limit improvements in reading, writing and numeracy, the analysis for the Department for Education and Skills found.
The report, 【C3】______ a team of academics from Toronto University, concluded that it was difficult to assess the effect of the 【C4】______ on pupils' learning. While literacy and numeracy scores had risen significantly between 1997 and 2002, much of the increases had 【C5】______ before the introduction of the two strategies: literacy in 1998 and numeracy in 1999.
The team, led by Professor Michael Fullan, also warned ministers against 【C6】______ ever higher targets for schools, arguing that this would backfire when staff began to regard the goals as 【C7】______ .
But this advice came too late for the Government, which has already set new and higher targets for primary schools, 【C8】______ failing to meet the previous goals in the summer.
Soon after coming to power in 1997, the Labour government set challenging targets which required 80 percent of Il-year-olds to reach a required 【C9】______ in English, and 75 percent in maths, by 2002. But after a strong start, the improvements tailed off and both 【C10】______ were missed.
Despite this failure, ministers have repeated their desire to push ahead with more demanding goals that require 85 percent of students to reach the standard in English and maths by 2004.
The team of academics highlighted the 【C11】______ of some primary teachers' knowledge. "For the strategies to succeed in the ways that strategy leaders believe 【C12】______ possible, many teachers will need to be highly skilled and more knowledgeable about teaching literacy and mathematics than is currently the case," the report said.
"The data indicate that for many teachers, gaps or weaknesses in subject knowledge limit the extent 【C13】______ they can make full use of the frameworks and resources of the strategies." The 【C14】______ also said that the high-profile nature of the targets had had "unintended negative consequences" for primary schools.
The team cast 【C15】______ on ministers' ambition to improve standards further. The pressure on teachers to comply with directives from central government threatened to create a "culture of dependence" that would make it difficult for schools to raise standards once the ministers' focus had moved, the report concluded.
【C1】

A. grasp
B. grip
C. hold
D. concern