Beyond the Ramshackle Hodgepodge

"Our examination technology is crude, partial, inadequate and discriminatory."

We are in the exam results season here in the UK, and yesterday's Guardian newspaper contained a number of letters reflecting on our current public exam system. I particularly liked this, from a letter by Professor Colin Richards:

"Despite a century or more of research and “measurement”, we still have no firm, reliable or systematic way of assessing young people’s understanding. Our examination technology is crude, partial, inadequate and discriminatory. The mental health of many former students bears witness to that."

And the final sentence of Professor Richards' letter is a clear statement of what need to happen now:

"This year’s teacher assessed grades should be the start of a much-needed process of development, not an unwelcome interruption of a faulty measurement system which has passed its sell-by date."

 

My Old Blog

Back in 2008 I started a blog called How do people really learn? but I stopped adding new posts in 2014, around the same time that I (gradually - and gracefully:-) retired from paid work as an educator. 

I recently added one final post to this blog.  In this 'Last Post' I provide a thematic index to all the posts in How do people really learn. These themes remain highly relevant today, as it seems to me that the world of education has not moved forward since 2008 - if anything it has moved backward.

Click here to link to the last post of How do people really learn.