All educators aim to teach young people how to thrive in all important aspects of life, both while at school and in preparation for their adult lives. The uncomfortable fact is, however, that many of our young are not...
Calls for reform of assessment in schools are growing steadily. Although the focus is often on GCSEs, the issues with public examinations affect all Key Stages. And it is not just about exam results; assessment impacts...
At the time GCSEs were introduced, in the late 1980s, virtually nothing was known about the changes that take place in the human brain throughout adolescence. Back then, it was assumed that the brain stops developing...
Accountability is not necessarily a bad thing. Schools should be held accountable for providing a good education for all. However, existing research on the impact of accountability presents conflicting claims and...
A few years ago a major concern expressed by teachers and educationists at the Ministerial Education Technology Action Group was that the testing regime was influencing how pupils and learners were being taught....
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once (s)he grows up.” Pablo Picasso Education should be about welcoming and cultivating the natural creativity in all young people, while equipping them...
We must ensure that children from all backgrounds achieve their highest creative potential
Daniel ShindlerHe was a teacher of drama, wellbeing, oracy and project–based learning within inner cities and internationally, for over 33 years. Author of In Search: Reimagining What it Means to be a Teacher
We can’t say we weren’t warned. The champion of a liberal arts curriculum, Richard Livingstone, way back in 1941, advised: ‘The test of successful education is not the amount of knowledge that a pupil takes away from...
Having worked in the English education system for 35 years (as a primary school teacher, teacher educator, and academic) I moved to Australia in 2019 because I had become disillusioned about the scope to enhance...
In my last blog, I described why we had to change the underlying assumptions of the exam system: for the most part, it’s not a competition. The broader purpose of exams is about incentivising learning. Exams motivate...
In 2016, Mental Health Tsar, Natasha Devon, suggested that the UK public exam system was a significant cause of the spiralling crisis in teenage mental health. “Time and time again young people - and the people who...
In reply to a question posed at the Select Committee hearing on 2nd September 2020, Dame Glenys Stacey, Ofqual’s Interim Chief Regulator, made an important statement: that exam grades are “reliable to one grade either...
We were told this Summer that it was a ‘mutant algorithm’ that had caused the anguish of the exam fiasco. Covid may have exposed the failings, but in truth, something more profound is going on, and it has been brewing...
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