I have long had a bee in my bonnet about how we assess young people’s learning, and this terrible coronavirus crisis has forced me to think hard about qualifications afterÌýthis year’s exams were cancelled last month.
Through , we almost always assess only a part of their learning: specifically, stuffÌýthey have memorised and can regurgitateÌýunder exam conditions.
There is a huge irony here: this must be the skill that is least useful in 21st-century life, given the vast store of factual information availableÌýwithin secondsÌýon the web.ÌýIt’s what we do with knowledge that is important now,Ìýand how we interact with it to apply it in new situations.ÌýWe need skills in problem-solving, team-working, adaptability, communication and the like - yet our exam system does not assess these.
µþ²¹³¦°ì²µ°ù´Ç³Ü²Ô»å:ÌýSQA grilled over fairness of system replacing exams
Coronavirus:Ìý‘Cancel next year’s exams,’Ìýsays teaching union
Opinion:Ìý‘It’s impossible to meet the SQA grading demands’
Assessment must be more appropriate to the world today, fit for purpose and focus on skills developed and competencies therein.Ìý Society needs an education system with a brand-newÌýform of assessment.ÌýOr does it?
Coronavirus: TheÌýchance for exam reform
My dad trained as a joiner in the 1930s and served in the Royal Navy for sixÌýyears in the Second World War.ÌýAs a relatively new recruit in 1940, he applied to train as a shipwright, saying that he could provide papers to prove he was a joiner.
The navyÌýwas not interested in his paper qualifications.ÌýHe was told to report to a workshop full of materials, tools and machinery,Ìý where he was given a detailed drawing of a window frame.ÌýThe assessment task was simple: Dad was told to make the frame.
He did so, and, having demonstrated that his skills and competence were at the required level, he was accepted to train as a shipwright.ÌýThere was no written component to the test - the Royal NavyÌýsimply asked him to make something.
Maybe what society needs to do today isÌýask itself what it needs from the qualifications system in schools. Maybe, in turn, the education system needs to ask itself what it needs to do to prepare young people for life in our ever-changing world, focusing onÌýskills development to ensure that it provides relevant qualifications?
My argument is that knowledge regurgitation in an exam hall is not an essentialÌýskill any more. Yet, given Dad’s experience, ironically, we might look back in time to find assessment approaches relevant toÌý2020 and beyond.
Harry White trained extensively in the Royal Navy, became a shipwright, deep-sea diver and a chief petty officer.ÌýOn leaving the navy, he worked as a joiner for a time and then trained to be a technical teacher.ÌýHe spent his time in schoolsÌýgetting young people skilled andÌýinto employment.ÌýBut that’s another story…
Iain White is a former secondary headteacher in Scotland who now works as a leadership consultant
