To exam or not to exam, that is the question and so much more in this week's roundup...
I was sent an article which was written in the Guardian, which made me angry ??. Yep, angry. I thought you had to be kidding me.
I have been tagged several times here on Linkedin in articles talking about the fact that Latymer Upper School and Bedales School, both well-known fee-paying schools in England, are choosing to opt out of the GCSE exams.
The article that made me angry was: Private Schools Wanting to Opt out of GCSEs ‘Unable to Produce the Results'.
To add insult to injury, they quoted someone for whom I have a fair amount of respect, Katharine Birbalsingh.
Now I know Katherine likes to start controversy, and she is a provocateur, but she has done a lot of good for students who would have, let's face it, fallen through the education cracks.
But even with all her good work with the students at Michaela Community School in London, she is wrong on this occasion and several others if one wishes to admit.
She played right into the hands of those who want to keep education stuck in the dark ages for their profit's sake. Yes, exam boards are profit-making capitalist institutions. I said it with my chest.
Katherine... Sis, Opting out of GCSEs isn't about hiding failures on the part of private schools ( trust me, they have other ways of doing that if that is what they want to do), but it is about seeking holistic education. Rigid exams can stifle creativity and critical thinking. Schools should be empowered to choose curricula that best serve their students, not be confined to traditional benchmarks that may not reflect modern educational needs.
To exam or not to exam is not the question, but what we really need to be doing is providing our students with valid learning opportunities that will equip them for the world we currently live in and not one that we have left behind.
Let's keep the conversation going...
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| Experienced School Founder | Leader | Trainer | Consultant |
1 年You know me! I am for an education that reflects the current needs we are facing as a world. Climate change- needs critical thinking, change management and collaboration not GCSE (UK centric) science. AI requires the same and not GCSE computing, the list is endless. I also respect Katharine Birbalsingh point of view whilst disagreeing with everything she says. We have some excellent change makers in curriculum design strartinf with our very Chatsworth Schools tapestry designed by Clemmie Stewart and Anita GLEAVE - you should also look up Meena Wood MBA Ed Leadership, FRSA for an antidote to GCSEs as well Adrian Bethune and the OIC from Oxford- Luke Sweetman Lots of options- we can choose to move beyond this narrative.
Founder | Education @ High Performance Learning
1 年Hard to disagree with what you are saying Leisa - and we have been working with schools to achieve just that for about 8 years. The problem as I see it, is that much of what we want to develop cannot be reliably assessed. So, given we only seem able to attribute value to that which can be assessed what we we do? Think the answer lies in a move away from assessment driven curriculum and test preparation and towards building cognitive competency in students. That way they are much better prepared for their future lives but also more likely to do well on any assessment that comes their way. If I had my way we would do much more competency based assessment like they do in vocational education but that doesn’t suit the post school destinations who really just want a number. BTW. assessment is merely a snapshot in time and not a very reliable one at that! We depend on it too much.
POWERING DATA-DRIVEN IMPROVEMENT IN SCHOOLS ACROSS THE GLOBE
1 年Wow! Love the play on words from Hamlet. Well done Leisa, this is a subject that is long overdue
AI SME ? Keynote Speaker ? Author ? Digital Learning Specialist ? Apple Teacher ? Google Certified Coach ? AI in Education Specialist
1 年I’m just glad you said it with your chest??????