FILLING THE VOID
The challenge ahead
Professional
Professional teachers, trained to assess, must be at
the heart of any new system, for without that crucial
teachers, trained
element any new structure would be likely to fail. CPD
must be strengthened and extended to support any new
testing arrangements.
to assess, must
The model of CPD adopted by the college sector
through the Institute for Learning might help crystallise
be at the heart
thinking around a more formalised CPD system. It
is independently accredited and officially supported
of any new system to
within colleges.
I would therefore encourage the expert panel to
replace key stage 3 tests,
review the support systems and CPD available for
teachers in the secondary sector.
accreditation of the overall internal assessment
says David Wright
system, as well as the individuals operating within it,
also has an important part to play in any reform.
Through external validation by sampling, for
T WaS challenging of SecEd to offer column example, we could ensure greater consistency, not
I
inches to those with a view on what should fill only within discrete subject domains, but also between
the gap after the ending of statutory testing at different departments within and across schools, locally,
key stage 3. regionally, or nationally.
In the past weeks that challenge has been Local authorities have a statutory duty to moderate
taken to with a vengeance, with creative the Early Years Foundation Stage profile assessments,
ideas to structure learning for a future in and these primary judgement arrangements could be
which today’s students may have 18 to 25 jobs in their extended, with the right controls in place, to secondary
lifetime before retiring, which is what one commentator school assessment arrangements.
emphasised, while another gave a warning against The reasons for this may already be clear. But what elements would be required in a move to These could be co-ordinated with the support of
filling the gap with even more “stuff”. International education league tables inform us that internal assessment at key stage 3 to ensure that schools a professional body, such as the Chartered Institute
However, with the need to monitor achievements higher performing countries on average have a greater had access to some form of quality-assured testing of Educational assessors or the association for
and improvements in learning, and to maintain reliance on valid and reliable internal assessment. arrangements to maintain reliability and validity in the achievement and Improvement through assessment.
accountability, testing needs to continue in some form One of the top performers, Finland, shows that education system? alternatively, the awarding bodies could be called
at least. and so who will do that and how will it be children can start their education later and achieve higher The first must be the integration of existing agencies. upon to moderate internally assessed work on a sample
done? standards using internal assessment as a key driver There are moves in this direction with the demise basis nationally to ensure greater consistency between
The Department for Children, Schools and Families to inform educational attainment, rather than external of the National assessment agency (Naa), now to teachers and across schools.
(DCSF) has set up a panel of experts in assessment assessments as used in England and elsewhere. be disbanded and merged with Qualifications and Overall, the opportunities facing the expert panel
to review the changes needed. It is due to report this Government too may believe that the extension of Curriculum authority to form the new Qualifications in assessment are momentous, challenging and a great
month. education and training for all young people up to the and Curriculum Development agency. chance to ensure that teachers are given the authority
This panel’s work continues the government’s age of 18 means that the impetus for external testing at Ofqual has also made clear its desire to extend its and responsibility, with the right professional support and
drive to redress the balance between internal and key stage 3 has diminished. remit into any form of accredited internal assessment development, to have a greater say in judgements about
external assessment. Other recent initiatives, such as the This may leave some schools facing an assessment system, while the Naa, before being abolished, the attainments and achievements of their learners. SecEd
Diplomas and the launch over the summer of DCSF’s vacuum, while they search for new forms of reliable supported new internal assessment arrangements for the
assessment for Learning strategy, have formed part of a benchmarking prior to the start of key stage 4 to ensure Diplomas. So there is the opportunity to take the best of • david wright is chief executive of the Chartered
wider move aimed at strengthening internal assessment that all learners have the right support in place to the evolving new world of educational assessment and Institute of Educational assessors. For more information,
within schools and colleges. achieve their full potential. to use it to best advantage for the future. visit www.ciea.org.uk.
Notes and jottings Psycho babble
Don’t neglect your year 7s Setting things right
I am at arcola Theatre in Dalston, in the London Like 15 state schools and 34 other independents, Edwardo, ThE horriblest Boy in the whole that British children are beginning to behave like
Borough of Hackney, on a Saturday afternoon and Charterhouse started offering Cambridge University’s wide world, is a picture book that I regularly animals, with just under half thinking that people are
I’ve just been chatting to veteran playwright Sir no-nonsense, rigorous Pre-U (with its commendably read to my four-year-old son. For those of you right to describe children as feral because children
arnold Wesker. He is now sitting in front of me. straightforward syllabuses/specifications) this school who aren’t familiar with it, it tells the story of behave in that way.
We are there to see professional performances of 20 year. Now it has announced that a level will be off an ordinary little boy called Edwardo, who does But do all children behave like animals? and
short plays written by year 6 pupils in eight Hackney the menu altogether after 2011 when it introduces the ordinary childish things, such as being noisy, is it fair to describe all British children as feral? If
schools: the culmination of an imaginative project International Baccalaureate. pushing another child, creating mess, failing to adolescent behaviour is declining at a staggering
called Primary Voices, run by Quicksilver Theatre. meanwhile, at least 100 more schools plan to wash properly, and chasing cats. rate, could it not be that we are expecting poor
many things strike me about the excellence of start Pre-U in September, which means mostly essay The adults in his world take offence at his behaviour – or, at least, expecting the worst – and the
all this, but my most humbling thought (having answers in end-of-course exams unblurred by activities, and label him the “dirtiest boy”, the kids are living up to our expectations?
always been a secondary school teacher) modules and coursework. “messiest boy”, the “cruellest boy”, and so on, until: and aren’t all these “bad” kids redeemable to
relates to our dreadful habit of routinely I was surprised at just how forthright “as the days turned into weeks and the weeks into some extent? Could our belief in them – a change in
underestimating the ability and the Rev John Witheridge, head of months, Edwardo became even clumsier, our perception of their activities – not lead to more
experience of year 7 pupils. Charterhouse, was prepared to be crueller, noisier, messier, dirtier, nastier, tolerance and understanding? Couldn’t we give
Take Cornelius Gibbons, who about the a level problem. He said: ruder, and rougher; until one day they them new, positive labels, and encourage
gives us a wonderfully imaginative “Government interference has said, ‘Edwardo, you really are The them to live up to those instead?
piece about a bored boy in a destroyed the a level as an exam Horriblest Boy in the Whole Wide If we give kids an opportunity to
geography lesson who dreams of the for bright 6th-formers. They have World’.” redeem themselves, they’ll feel better
colours, smells and sounds of China reduced the overall level in order With his labels firmly weighted about themselves, and less likely to
– with a hilarious, but telling and to increase the (number of) school- on his little shoulders, Edwardo continue the negative behaviours in
very accurately observed ending. leavers passing the exam and going lives up to them, until something future. What’s more, if we avoid
Jordan Gibson Walden’s The Bad on to university. We are quite certain funny happens. an attempt to labelling them as “bad” or, as
Boys is a tragic little tale of everyday that the a level has had its day.” push another child inadvertently in the case above “animals”
life in the East End in which two bullies end Whether or not you agree with saves him when a light fixture or “feral”, and choose positive
up knifed. mr Witheridge, you have to admire comes crashing down; kicking labels instead, they are more
This is the quality of work which can his willingness to cut through the a flower pot creates a lovely likely to live up to them.
flow from 11-year-olds if they are shown predominant educational jargon and garden; and when he throws his It’s my feeling that a massive
how to do it and given inspiration. obfuscation and call a spade a spade. belongings out of his bedroom shift in the way we approach our
Yet, when we get them a few months window, they land in a truck students is in order. actively seeking
later, we infantilise them as the “babies” How’s this for a good idea? at Lymm collecting for poor people. and opportunities to provide them with the
of the school – and let’s be honest – we High School in Cheshire students are so it was that Edwardo acquired chance to set things right when they’ve
tend to be a bit dismissive of the work playing handball and other games in new labels, as the adults around him messed up will help them to build a stronger
they’ve done in the past now that they’ve another language: Spanish. saw the very same activities in a new and and more positive self-image. Choosing the
reached the stage of their schooling which The school is a language college with a different light. labels we use is also important. Children with
“really matters”. second specialism in sports. Head of Spanish, all of us will know that labels define positive labels will forgive themselves and others
We worry so endlessly about “transition” Javier Chinea, has devised a BTEC in sport children, and play a strong role in creating when things go awry.
that I think we sometimes fail to recognise our and Spanish. Pupils learn body parts and the sort their personalities and guiding their actions. What’s We can begin by treating our students with
11-year-olds as rounded people with quite a lot of things you shout when you’re playing, such as more, the labels they carry are often, like Edwardo’s, dignity, and believing that all of them are good, even
of experience. No wonder so many of them “go off” “por aqui!” (over here), and “pássamelo” (pass it to created because our perceptions of these children and those with the hardest, most damning shells. The
education before they reach year 8. me), to keep them engaged with the language. their activities are often faulty, and our expectations next stage is to perceive their actions with a fairer
more schools could do this with more languages too high. view, and then to provide them with ways to redeem
I see that support for challenging new exams is – and why stop at sport? You could do something I can’t help but think that a handful of kids doing themselves.
growing apace as more and more schools part similar with other practical subjects such as music or some bad things has led to a mass evaluation of all Only then can they make the shift from being the
company with a level – now often referred to in design and technology. and you could have French, kids, with an unhelpful label applied to the whole lot horriblest kids in the whole wide world to people that
newspapers as “the tarnished gold standard”. Spanish or Japanese days in the school’s dining area. of them. and if you are considered “bad”, you might they – and we – can take pride in.
Charterhouse, the independent school at as well be bad…
Godalming in Surrey, is the latest to go public with • Susan Elkin is a freelance education journalist and In a survey, conducted for Barnardo’s by YouGov, • Karen Sullivan is a bestselling author, psychologist
its views and intentions. former teacher. over half of the population agreed with the view and childcare expert. Email kesullivan@aol.com
SecEd • February 12 2009 
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20