Exams should be replaced with 'records of achievement'

John White, from the UCL Institute of Education says that exams 'keep the poor in their place' and restrict social mobility:

"In their place, Professor White recommends introducing an ongoing record of achievement, or student profile, which records pupils’ progress throughout their school career. This could be used to collate information not only about children’s formal knowledge but also about their practical and personal skills."

What system would you replace exams with? :holmes:

Reply 1

RF_PineMarten

18

I wouldn't replace exams with anything, but I would have more coursework at GCSE and A Level, as exams and coursework require different skills. And lot of university course are heavily assignment based, rather than exam based, so it helps to have had practice at both.

Reply 2

the bear

20

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

John White, from the UCL Institute of Education says that exams 'keep the poor in their place' and restrict social mobility:

"In their place, Professor White recommends introducing an ongoing record of achievement, or student profile, which records pupils’ progress throughout their school career. This could be used to collate information not only about children’s formal knowledge but also about their practical and personal skills."

What system would you replace exams with? :holmes:

bear™ has turned a deep purple color. perhaps the schools could organise a multi-media celebration of each child at the end of their last year; the video could be sent to employers instead of boring old exam certificates.

Reply 3

Klix88

17

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

John White, from the UCL Institute of Education says that exams 'keep the poor in their place' and restrict social mobility:

"In their place, Professor White recommends introducing an ongoing record of achievement, or student profile, which records pupils’ progress throughout their school career. This could be used to collate information not only about children’s formal knowledge but also about their practical and personal skills."

What system would you replace exams with? :holmes:

Surely this sort of thing already exists, in the form of school reports? You could just add extra sections to that. However it would mean implementing a standard format report card across the UK (otherwise unis and employers wouldn't have a direct way of comparing applicants) which wouldn't be workable.

Reply 4

Puddles the Monkey

OP

21

I haven't read his book, but I can't how an ongoing record of achievement would help resolve the problem....? Wouldn't that just be like having a continuous exam...? :s-smilie:

Reply 5

Tanqueray91

22

Original post by RFowler

I wouldn't replace exams with anything, but I would have more coursework at GCSE and A Level, as exams and coursework require different skills. And lot of university course are heavily assignment based, rather than exam based, so it helps to have had practice at both.

If the coursework is moderated and marked properly, then yes - however, too many schools 'help' students too much which puts people who aren't helped so much at a big disadvantage...

Reply 6

Pseudocode

3

Exams are a waste of time so I agree. Pupils should get a logbook of achievement as they go through school and college which they then present to a university. This logbook also can contain extra curricular stuff as well to show a well rounded person.

Reply 7

Robertus

6

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

John White, from the UCL Institute of Education says that exams 'keep the poor in their place' and restrict social mobility:

"In their place, Professor White recommends introducing an ongoing record of achievement, or student profile, which records pupils’ progress throughout their school career. This could be used to collate information not only about children’s formal knowledge but also about their practical and personal skills."

What system would you replace exams with? :holmes:

Rather than complaining that an academic, exam-based education somehow "disadvantages" lower/working class children, why not ensure that in future these children are equipped with the skills they need to succeed in that system?

The answer is not to lower the standards across the board by acting as if "practical and personal skills" will in any way equate to value in a university application (For academic subjects, at least), but instead to raise the standards for all. It's no wonder that the lower classes are failing in education when the standard of schools they are forced to attend from birth is so appalling. In fact, even the better half of state comprehensive schools have the ability to beat students with strong potential into the ground through a non-conducive environment that is often hostile to progress and ambition.

We need harsher standards, stricter (though fairer) discipline, and better structure for our schools. Children need to be grouped by ability, not economic status, and class sizes need to be reduced dramatically. Schools which under-perform must be shut down or placed under better management, and every town needs to have both a high quality grammar school and high quality non-selective school in order to place all of its children through as rigorous and competitive a school environment as possible.

The reason the privately educated so often succeed in school and wider life is because they have the advantage of both top quality education and preparation for the wider world. That attitude needs to be applied to the state sector wholeheartedly in order for the rest of British society to benefit.

Reply 8

nulli tertius

21

But the academic says that this “ladder philosophy” allows some people to progress up the social scale while – provided that there are still plenty of good jobs for children from wealthier families – doing nothing to threaten the existing social order.