Thanks for the article. In your closing remarks you state, "I think the current secondary assessment system is not too bad, and as a result of the most recent changes does a decent job of balancing the different purposes." I was unsure as to whether you were referring to overall assessment or science in particular. Thinking of the former I'm hugely concerned that changes brought in by Michael Gove ard condemning the 40% of 16 year olds who leave school without the requisite L4 in English and maths to oblivion as far as career options are concerned. The state funded secondary system in England is dominated by exam assessment. Youngsters are assessed on 12 years of education by a standalone exams. In the case of English and maths if they fail to attain L4 they find themselves in a Groundhog Day scenario of resitting them until they are 18 and can leave the system. The success rate for resits 8s less than 20%. This article from the FT although dating from over a decade ago is sadly enough more pertinent now. Hence I don't think we do havd an assessment system in our state funded schools that's fot for purpose if it in effect, writes kids off at 16. Yes there are apprenticeships etc but very, very few that will offer places to applicants without the golden ticket of those two L4 GCSEs. It almost makes me ponder on whether we would be better off with a continual assessment system as in the USA, up to 16 do that those young folk can receive credit for what they have achieved rather than be condemned for what they've failed to attain.
Very interesting read. I'm looking forward to the future posts!
What are your thoughts about KS1 SATs and do you believe using KS2 SATs to make "projected" grade predications for GCSEs has any value?
Thanks for the article. In your closing remarks you state, "I think the current secondary assessment system is not too bad, and as a result of the most recent changes does a decent job of balancing the different purposes." I was unsure as to whether you were referring to overall assessment or science in particular. Thinking of the former I'm hugely concerned that changes brought in by Michael Gove ard condemning the 40% of 16 year olds who leave school without the requisite L4 in English and maths to oblivion as far as career options are concerned. The state funded secondary system in England is dominated by exam assessment. Youngsters are assessed on 12 years of education by a standalone exams. In the case of English and maths if they fail to attain L4 they find themselves in a Groundhog Day scenario of resitting them until they are 18 and can leave the system. The success rate for resits 8s less than 20%. This article from the FT although dating from over a decade ago is sadly enough more pertinent now. Hence I don't think we do havd an assessment system in our state funded schools that's fot for purpose if it in effect, writes kids off at 16. Yes there are apprenticeships etc but very, very few that will offer places to applicants without the golden ticket of those two L4 GCSEs. It almost makes me ponder on whether we would be better off with a continual assessment system as in the USA, up to 16 do that those young folk can receive credit for what they have achieved rather than be condemned for what they've failed to attain.
I definitely think the major area for reform at secondary is the post 16 resit policy. We’ll have more on this soon I hope.
Apologies as I omitted to add the link for the FT article. https://feweek.co.uk/apprentice-hopefuls-face-gcse-barrier/