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The only thing worth knowing about exams? Examiners are control freaks We don’t need exams to be a grand national teenage bake-off
(35 minutes later)
Who needs Jeremy Corbyn when we have education minister Nick Gibb? As the Conservative government seeks to end local control of schools, their next target for nationalisation is exams. Gibb says he is “upset and angry” at the performance of the four private exam boards, not least following the computer fiasco of one of them, OCR, last year. It makes no sense, he says, “to have three or four exam boards competing for market share”. He clearly believes his officials can do better. Who needs Jeremy Corbyn when we have education minister Nick Gibb? As the Conservative government seeks to end local control of schools, its next target for nationalisation is exams. Gibb says he is “upset and angry” at the performance of the four private exam boards, not least following the computer fiasco of one of them, OCR, last year. It makes no sense, he says, “to have three or four exam boards competing for market share”. He clearly believes his officials can do better.
Related: Ministers consider scrapping exam boards, as students await A-level resultsRelated: Ministers consider scrapping exam boards, as students await A-level results
This comes in the middle of the exam results season, a time of statistical frenzy as scores are compared, league tables drawn up and children reduced to hysterics of joy or misery. Programmed to “learn the test”, they have come to regard the exam as a rite of passage that will make or break their future careers. The old tyranny of the 11-plus has been postponed, not ended.This comes in the middle of the exam results season, a time of statistical frenzy as scores are compared, league tables drawn up and children reduced to hysterics of joy or misery. Programmed to “learn the test”, they have come to regard the exam as a rite of passage that will make or break their future careers. The old tyranny of the 11-plus has been postponed, not ended.
Under Michael Gove and his education nationalisers, scoring became the talisman of educational quality. Only what was measurable mattered. The pressure on pupils has become fierce, and needlessly demoralising for them and their schools. Now measurement has to be ever more precise. We are approaching the point where not just schools but individual pupils are ranked nationally, doubtless with the minister awarding halos to each year’s “top ten”. Under Michael Gove and his education nationalisers, scoring became the talisman of educational quality. Only what was measurable mattered. The pressure on pupils has become fierce, and needlessly demoralising for them and their schools. Now measurement has to be ever more precise. We are approaching the point where not just schools but also individual pupils are ranked nationally, doubtless with the minister awarding halos to each year’s “top 10”.
We should cling to such diversity as remains in the examination system. Pupils should also be reassured that exams are fallible predictors of future success, as well as a time-wasting means of education. Their purpose is not to teach but to ease the task of university and job recruiters. It helps avoid the need to look at the personality behind the score. Gibb clearly craves some grand national teenage bake-off competition. He should not be encouraged.We should cling to such diversity as remains in the examination system. Pupils should also be reassured that exams are fallible predictors of future success, as well as a time-wasting means of education. Their purpose is not to teach but to ease the task of university and job recruiters. It helps avoid the need to look at the personality behind the score. Gibb clearly craves some grand national teenage bake-off competition. He should not be encouraged.
Not just celebrities but successful people in all walks of life rarely shone at school – though it would be worth some research into this. They too got bad results, were not happy or popular and seldom got top degrees. Pupils should know that few of them will ever be asked what A-levels they got or what class of degree. School is a poor proxy for later life. Success usually lies in what they go on to do afterwards, in how they craft their early years in employment. A “good education” may be relevant, but probably not. Not just celebrities but also successful people in all walks of life rarely shone at school – though it would be worth some research into this. They too got bad results, were not happy or popular and seldom got top degrees. Pupils should know that few of them will ever be asked what A-levels they got or what class of degree. School is a poor proxy for later life. Success usually lies in what they go on to do afterwards, in how they craft their early years in employment. A “good education” may be relevant, but probably not.
Gibb and his colleagues want to nationalise every aspect of the nation’s schools, merely so as more easily to score their inputs and outputs. Their next stage will be to standardise all job applications.Gibb and his colleagues want to nationalise every aspect of the nation’s schools, merely so as more easily to score their inputs and outputs. Their next stage will be to standardise all job applications.
These people will stop at nothing until they control everything.These people will stop at nothing until they control everything.