How to avoid an exams fiasco? Trust teachers - Magnus in TES
In an article for TES, Head of Bedales Magnus Bashaarat argues that government must once more embrace teacher assessment of students’ coursework if a repeat of this year’s A Level grading fiasco is to be avoided.
He attributes the government’s current appetite for exams as the only meaningful measure of learning to a Department for Education working assumption that teachers can’t be trusted to act with honesty, integrity and professionalism when marking coursework, carrying out formative assessment, grading students’ work, or even reporting progress to parents. He says: “Of course, had those varied assessment methodologies been embraced by government, then the calculated grade fiasco need not have happened.”
Bedales had been less nervous of the damage the OFQUAL algorithm might be able to inflict on GCSE results because students only take a maximum of five in ‘core’ subjects. The other half of the school’s Key Stage 4 curriculum comprises Bedales Assessed Courses (BACs) – popular with university admissions staff, and designed explicitly to give students more autonomy to explore their subjects, and report on what they have learned in appropriate ways.
BACs are graded according to their own assessment criteria and follow the GCSE convention of awarding 9-1 grades. Courses are externally moderated, with assessment methodology allowing for group presentations, solo presentations, coursework of varied lengths, as well as two shorter exam seasons in each year. This encourages and tests a far-wider range of skills and knowledge than can be done via just a terminal exam: whilst the latter remain important, they are just one of a range of assessment methods.
Magnus concludes: “Although I question the need for a public exam at all in Year 11, as a first step I believe now is the time for government to start re-building trust with pupils and teachers by looking again at the viability of teacher assessment alongside terminal exams. Bedales is part of a growing group of schools across the state and independent sectors who share a similar vision and would be delighted to contribute to the process of change. There may be some extreme optimists out there who think we will be able to enjoy an uninterrupted teaching year in 2020/21, but if not then embarking again on a journey with only a terminal exam to evidence achievement will invite the same result.”
The full article can be read on the TES website here (subscription may be required).
Magnus Bashaarat | TES news | Bedales Assessed Courses