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34 | EX AM BOARDS | SCHOOL LIFE Read a related story: click here Making the Grades


Damon Jones considers UK exam boards’ responses to the latest official guidelines issued by OFQUAL, aimed at shaking up the GCSE standard


ABOVE: Peter Kirk, executive chairman of ISEB


It seems that everyone with an investment in education is keen to assess Britain’s educational assessors. The later’s duties, including seting exams, sharing results and bestowing qualifications, are integral to the learning process – and thus the subject of intense scrutiny. Omiting key historical episodes, canonical deities such as Shakespeare, or even well-loved modern classics like Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ stokes the ire of traditionalists, who are quick to interpret such changes as ideologically motivated. The examiners have no choice but to modernise,


however. Each of the UK’s independent exam boards must comply with the recommendations issued by the Government’s Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (OFQUAL). At GCSE level, the organisation is beginning to introduce a numeric grading system, which will replace the time-honoured alphabetic ratings. Courses themselves will also change – eschewing modularity to become more linear, and with more restrictions imposed on tiering. The first revamped assessments are due in 2017,


and will be pre-empted by amendments to classroom tuition. While updating their respective syllabi, the


between the requirements of individual establishments, “senior independent schools continue to look for candidates who demonstrate intellectual curiosity with enquiring, creative and logical minds,” says Kirk. “In addition, young people are growing up in a world where a great deal of information can be accessed using technology: so the application of ICT across a wide range of academic subjects has become a very important development for independent schools.” Many independent pupils’ first encounter with


an examining board, ISEB offers papers including as the Common Entrance and Common Academic Scholarship examinations. The 13+ papers include ten academic subjects, spanning science, humanities, Latin and modern languages, and were endorsed by former Education secretary Michael Gove as, in Kirk’s words, something of a “gold standard”. The exams are widely used throughout the UK, with 325 schools entering candidates last year, alongside numerous individual learners and overseas pupils. Syllabi are regularly reviewed, and what Kirk


describes as “significant changes” have been made to Geography and History, with Maths and Science shortly to be revised in accordance with the National Curriculum. Mandarin Chinese is now offered at two levels, the first of which will only be available as an online test from September 2014. “We also offer an increasingly popular online, adaptive, standardised pre-test for pupils in Years 5 or 6, something that selective senior schools


“IT’S VITAL THAT WE REVIEW OUR EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS ON A REGULAR BASIS, SO THAT WE CONTINUE TO OFFER YOUNG PEOPLE THE EDUCATION THEY NEED TO EXCEL THROUGHOUT THEIR LIVES.” MARK ANDERSON, MANAGING DIRECTOR, PEARSON


exam boards must also consider the proliferation of remote learning, and the emergence of a globalised educational culture in which students regularly cross borders. But will the actual abilities being examined fundamentally change, or merely the courses and tests offered by the exam boards? “Academic rigour remains as


important as ever, but there has been an important shift towards examining skills as well as essential knowledge,” comments Peter Kirk, Executive Chairman of the Independent Schools Examinations Board (ISEB), which, uniquely, sets examinations and assessments for pupils seeking entry to independent senior schools at 11+ and 13+. Although there are variations


ABOVE: academic rigour remains as important as ever


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