21ST CENTURY LEARNING ALLIANCE howlers


After last month’s furore over exam standards,


Professor Mick Waters, argues that our exam system undoes so much of the good work teachers do in exciting in children a passion for learning


then followed as the wolves howled around another story about how much money was being wasted and whether we can trust our “gold standard” exams. The real problem with the exam system is a bigger


Y


one. it comes from side effects of decisions over time being laid on top of each other. Politicians often enact change on the hoof and want to see impact, preferably by the next election. They change the rules but rarely think of the way others in the game will respond. Trains run late so they set targets: the train companies


meet the targets by extending journey times to allow for delay. They say patients have to be seen within 30 minutes of their hospital appointment time: weigh them as they arrive and the “seeing” process has begun, even if they then have to wait another hour. it is natural to develop tactics for any game. i do not know why anyone would be surprised


that exams are called into question. since well before gCses, teachers have helped pupils to do as well as possible by predicting and practising the most probable questions. Past paper practice is the commonest curriculum subject in year 11. Who wouldn’t do this? The penalties for weak exam


results are significant. Poor league table position,ofsted inspection driven by data, performance management questions – all emphasise the high stakes nature of our exam regime. in truth, exam performance is used to measure the


difference in performance between schools as much as the achievement and attainment of pupils. Why else would pupils be persuaded to study for so manygCses when they need only a nap hand?gCses are the tickets to the next stage of education, training or work and once through the turnstile, we are rarely asked what our grades were. This year, the “optional eBacc” is included in


rAiseonline. The upshot is that many schools will now herd children into the literature exams and then cover all eventualities with other permutations: more exams for the youngsters and less true learning. Most teachers want to impart the joy of the subject. Most though admit that “getting a C grade” has to


SecEd • January 5 2012


oU Will have seen the fuss at the end of last year as the media swarmed around the case of the gCse chief examiners who were accused of “spilling the beans” about what the content of their exams might be. Much excitement


be the aim and the curriculum narrows down to the practice of finding the bankers on the syllabus; which poems, which verses?how we can say children “know shakespeare” when they meet one text, study the three significant speeches and a few questions about key events, is always a puzzle. And how many pupils feel inspired to take their interest further? The exam system undoes so much of the good


work teachers and others do in exciting in children a passion for the subject. Children studying tedium tend to get hooked on cynicism and cannot break out of the mindset that tells them it is not worth learning. Many “successful” youngsters say they find their schooling less than inspiring. They understand the pressure, put up with it, and get the results. others, though, find it fruitless but work because of loyalty to their school or their belief that their teacher is right when they tell them of the value of qualifications. education ministers tinker; the latest get tough


stance is to ban re-sits, a move hardly in tune with the adolescence. The eBacc will drag schools back to a limited vision of education around five subject options, encouraging the growth of grammar schools, but it will raise the precious school performance scores so that the government can boast of progress. There, of course, is the problem. The high stakes


testing regime is used to measure schools’ performance in competition with each other. There are healthy ways for schools to compete: music, drama, debating, engineering, young enterprise, mock trials and sport. Pupils are a currency in the school performance system and diligent, committed and professional educationalists, heads, teachers and examiners all find themselves pushing on the allowable tolerances in the system to deliver results. Many exam courses are good. They have been


carefully designed and structured and engage the pupil in the big ideas of the subject discipline. With coursework diminishing because we could not trust our teachers, the exams where pupils are required to apply their learning within a time-limited context tend to be more relevant. Too many exams, though, are examples of a “spit


out all you can remember” experience so that you can pass the exam and then forget it all. As a society, we persist with the rite of passage experience for young people, archaic in nature, a sort of trial by ordeal. When else in life would we enter a room, sit a metre away from everyone and work in silence for two hours? in real life, presented with a problem at work, most people immediately contact others, ask opinion, test solutions, seek information, pool knowledge and construct solutions that others critique. We might ask whether we need to examine all


16-year-olds at all, given they are expected to stay in education for two more years. of course we do; how else would we measure schools against each other? if we have to have these exams, do they have to


take place as harvest every summer? surely youngsters could take them when ready. Could the syllabus for a subject be made available just 50 days before the exam so that the big ideas of a subject discipline would have to be understood in order to be revised at that point? or maybe we could publish the 150 possible exam


questions two years ahead of the exams and generate the actual paper on the day. Practice such as this would ensure breadth and depth in study rather than exam practice. We might end up with real scientists, historians, geographers, designers and linguists, rather than people who pass exams so that they can drop the subject immediately. The media enjoyed the instant drama of the exposed


officials rather than the deeper underlying malaise created by the exam pressures. This article would not


get an airing outside the educational press. Typically, the media has little interest in the over clerical nature of schooling where pupil written work as “evidence” seems to matter more than dynamic teaching and learning with experiment, performance, problem- solving and teamwork to the fore. There is little concern that the writing of learning


objectives is the most time-consuming activity for many pupils in secondary school lessons. There is little questioning of the notion that pupils should be shown to make progress every 30 minutes in every lesson. There is scant attention to the fact that teachers feel they have to have a plenary every half hour or so and ask the pupils what they have been covering; many youngsters must think their teachers have short term memory loss. of course, much of this practice has arisen as a result of interpretations of the expectations of the


ofsted inspection regime. Much is myth but it comes from somewhere, often the foot soldier inspectors who seem to struggle to carry out the overall policy. The incessant reading of inspection reports by soon to be inspected schools and by inspectors themselves checking what is the in vogue thing to notice create “evidence of good practice” which is anything but. ofsted inspection is another example of on-going rule changes and tactics that create side effects – but maybe that’s for next time.


SecEd


• Professor Mick Waters is president of the Curriculum Foundation, Professor of Education at Wolverhampton University and a board member of the 21st Century Learning Alliance, which is a forum made up of a range of educationalists and which debates difficult and sensitive issues in education to stimulate change.


Wiping the slate clean Psycho babble


There’s noThing like the new Year to instil a sense of optimism and opportunity. The chance to put the past year – indeed the past itself – behind us is a welcome experience, particularly for students whose performance failed to meet expectations. it’s been a difficult year for teachers and students


alike, with examination scandals, pension problems, university fee hikes, widespread cuts, the routine belittling of gCse and A level achievements and, a discouraging rethink of the curriculum and the merits of many different courses. Disgruntled teachers and students


obviously undermine the process of education, and for this reason, it’s easy to forget why we are all here. Acquiring a fresh sense of


optimism can help on every level, and allow us all to rise from the ashes of frustration and unrest. A 2010 study found that simply refreshing optimism – or thinking “positive” – is strongly related to self-efficacy, improved academic performance, and better coping mechanisms. overall satisfaction and commitment to remain in school and find enjoyment within the school environment are also positively affected. What’s more, countless studies


have showed that optimists enjoy better health and increased longevity, as well as experiencing less stress and achieving more in life. Use thisnew Year to wipe the slate clean, both in


the classroom and the staffroom. offer opportunities for success, which encourages self-esteem and optimism. Take time to give credit for success, too, to students and colleagues, to encourage self- efficacy. There are traditionally believed to be five building blocks of optimism – having a go and persisting, practising skills, coming to terms with success and failure, planning for the future, and, having the confidence and belief to try again. These blocks link optimism with confidence, so


that when you or your students experience success, you are more likely to believe that you can achieve and have more success. To do this, we need to model


positive thinking and optimism – letting students and colleagues hear positive self-talk. We need to challenge negative or unrealistic


appraisals, turning generalisations into opportunities for self-understanding – for example, “i’m rubbish at exams” can be turned into “i’ve messed up in the past, but i can learn from my experiences”. We need to learn – and teach – how to positively track, which means looking for the good in every situation. silver linings always exist. Finally, work on positive reframing. When failure occurs, or things go wrong, we and our students need to look on the bright side and prevent hopelessness from becoming helplessness. optimism is very much a self-fulfilling prophecy, and it is a powerful strategy for success and happiness. Although this may sound trite


in the face of very real worries and problems, it is a means by which to facilitate change and improve wellbeing and results


on all levels. optimism is based on the faith that things will work out for the best – being prepared for the worst, but believing that the


best will happen. if you need more inspiration for


encouraging optimism, there is a handy guide for teachers online which offers plenty of ideas for opening discussions and transforming pessimistic mindsets into positive, optimistic outlooks. For example, brain-storming situations


when students felt optimistic or pessimistic and then attaching emotions to them can help to develop understanding, and teach students that problems are temporary, isolated and, above all, changeable. For more ideas like this, see www.feedyouroptimism.com/lessons/teacherguide.pdf An increasing number of schools have become


involved in teaching “happiness”. My view is that teaching optimism can have similar and widespread results on all levels. What better time to begin than the start of a brand new year.


• Karen Sullivan is a bestselling author, psychologist and childcare expert. She returns in two weeks.


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