The subject I’ve taught for the last 18 years is A level sociology, which is examined entirely by written examination.
I’ve become increasingly disillusioned with the validity of these tests because they measure such a narrow range of ‘intelligence’. Below is a brief account of 7 things written exams do measure, and, conversely, 7 things they don't measure.
This is part 3 of 11 in my ‘why I’m quitting teaching series’ - links to parts 1 and 2 below
7 things exams measure and 7 things they don't
- The ability of students to function as individuals - rather than their ability to work collaboratively and cooperatively with others - as many jobs will require, and as life in general requires of most people.
- The ability of students to produce written answers - rather than their ability to produce multimedia resources which incorporate pictures, sound, movies, animations, and heaven forbid anything else more creative.
- The ability of students to do 1 and 2 under timed conditions - rather than their ability to work on a variety of ‘projects’, and let them come to fruition when they’re damn well ready to come forth.
- Students’ capacity to memorise information (NB I am well aware that reformed A-levels reward analytical and evaluative skills more heavily than knowledge compared to previous A-levels, but still approximately 50% of the marks are for pure knowledge) - whereas in any normal working life most people have immediate access to a vast array of knowledge via the net.
- Whether students have revised that specific 10-15% of the specification which is actually on the exam that year - rather than being assessed on their strengths. This particularly bothers me about ‘A’ levels when social science degrees allow students to select their strongest topics to be assessed on.
- The physical and mental well-being of the student on that particular day - if a student has an off-day, unless it’s to the extent that they need to go to hospital and get a medical certificate, this is not taken into account in the slightest.
- Finally, formal written exams measure how much ‘training’ students have had in specific exam techniques - the desperate attempts of exam boards to mix things up and make questions less predictable has actually just resulted in even more training - all that’s happened is that there are just more ‘hoops’ to jump through to get certain grades.
Two excellent video sources to explore these issues further.
- Suli Breaks is a poet who provides a heartfelt account of why ‘he hates school but loves education’
- Ken Robinson, in one of the most watched TED talks of all time provides a more academic critique of not only the exam system, but of modern education more generally…'Do schools kill creativity?'
If you like this sort of thing then you might also like....
Part 1 - Why I'm quitting teaching: 11 criticisms of the English education system
Part 2 - Formal education: A tyranny of numbers
Picture Sources