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FEATURE FOCUS: EXAMS


norm.” Helen Boden went on to say: “Written communication is important and employers understandably want to know applicants’ aptitude for it. However, there’s no good reason for this assessment not to reflect the modern, digital workplace. But there are plenty of reasons for it not to be dogmatically bound to an outmoded medium.” The National Autistic Society also points out


that many autistic young people have difficulty with fine motor skills which could mean that it takes them longer to write and their handwriting is difficult to read - something else the use of technology can help to address. There is some evidence that having bad


handwriting can have a negative impact on a pupil’s grades, even if it’s not supposed to. Studies have shown that if two written assignments have the same content, and the grading is intended to be based on that content, the one with better handwriting still tends to be graded higher. For my own part, I use a mix of technology


during classroom work, but all prep work is done by hand. This seems to work well and is a positive way to give my pupils the balance of skills they need. Amid a clamour for a change in the way we


When I first raised this issue, some


commentators made great play of the fact that I described intense periods of handwriting as ‘tiring’ for pupils. Naturally, this was followed with accusations of pupils being ‘snowflakes’ - a lazy term which is vastly overused and usually misapplied. While I can understand why this line was leapt upon - after all, it makes for an easy headline - it was far from being my main argument for overhauling the way we conduct exams and, as you might expect, my reasoning was more nuanced than the headlines suggested. My main argument was my belief that it is time


to consider allowing pupils to determine the best medium for them to express themselves, allowing them to drop handwritten papers in favour of using touch typing or other technology that will make the process fairer, more accessible and more efficient, with the added bonus of preparing our children for the world into which they are actually going. How many people who work in offices, or


indeed outside them, use a pen and paper regularly anymore? Schools have rapidly grasped the benefits of technology, the need to be tech savvy and the benefits of touch-typing. Pupils are increasingly choosing not to write by hand where they don’t have to and in some (probably senior school) cases, I suspect a key reason that handwriting is used as a tool for work is simply to ensure students are still able to do this effectively and efficiently in order to perform well in the assessments that require it. Exam boards that have not already started exploring alternative and technological means of assessing our pupils are in danger of looking antiquated and narrow-minded for hanging on to this old-fashioned method as the only way of measuring success. I’m not advocating an end to handwriting in


schools altogether - something else I was wrongly accused of doing. I greatly appreciate a hand- written thank you note and make it a regular part of my way of thanking my team. As a teacher, I get a deep sense of satisfaction in seeing neat legible script. So, I am certainly not saying it is something schools should drop; in fact, we


May 2022


should encourage children to develop both skills - handwriting and typing – they stimulate different parts of the brain and encourage different fine motor skills. I want our pupils to develop the full range of skill sets that they can then draw upon in any given situation. What I did say about the tiredness issue is that I


have noticed how, as we use typing more regularly and for more and more things, long periods of handwriting, such as when sitting exams, can become increasingly tiring. I have to admit that I even struggle to write a full letter without feeling some cramping coming on! Those who spend more time touch-typing, can lose speed and clarity of hand-writing and thus are not able to express their ideas so proficiently in exams where handwritten answers are required. I am not sure this is fair or whether it achieves what a modern education should deliver. One exam board, at least, does appear to see


the benefits of technology when it comes to testing our young people. Colin Hughes, chief executive of the UK’s biggest exam board, AQA, has said it is a matter of “not if, but when” pupils start taking exams on computers. He said he would support the launch of national pilot schemes for what he called “on-screen assessment”, and it would take just three years to go from today’s “totally paper-based” system to having some exam components on computers, although he also does not support abolishing pen-and-paper tests entirely. Moving to technology in exams also has other


benefits. The British Dyslexia Association has, for some time, been calling for this move. It says around 80,000 young people taking GCSE exams will be dyslexic, with over 85 per cent undiagnosed. Their chance of getting a good pass in English and maths will be just half of that of their peers. The use of technology could help address that. The BDA’s former CEO’s views very much


reflect my own when she asked: “When was the last time you hand wrote anything important, that was going to impact on the rest of your life? Not often I imagine, considering digital is now the


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assess the academic capabilities of youngsters, a desire for a greater focus on skills and learning to harness the power of technology is undoubtedly an important one. By ending our reliance on handwriting during the most crucial of times for our pupils, we can free them to express their ideas much more coherently as they work in a medium that is part of their everyday lives - and will remain so as they leave us and go out into the big, wide world. The pandemic changed a lot of the ways we


think about education - and particularly the role that technology has to play in it. If exam boards can embrace the opportunities that technology offers to help provide more meaningful assessment systems, this can also free teachers and pupils to be more innovative in our classrooms, developing IT skills relevant to the 21st century. This is one of the discussions I enjoy having


with my pupils, who we encourage to evaluate how they learn independently, to widen the academic breadth of their studies. I believe it is important for them to take a lead role in how they see their own path developing through their school years and how they might also want to transform the world around them to be better for them, and for future generations.


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