Evidence and Lies

At a time when the government is rightly looking to change the exam system, addressing flaws at GCSE and A Level, it is amusing to read that school improvement, justifying academies, is judged on the current diet of GCSEs and A Levels.  The government is claiming proof of success for its breakneck programme of turning secondary schools into sponsored academies as league tables appear to show these schools generating more rapid improvements in results than the overall average.  It must be possible for somebody to realise that either the exams are flawed, and therefore not worthy of being used as a measurement of success, or else they are valid, and therefore not in need of changing.

A Damaging Report on British Academies

A damaging report on Academies that acts as a further reminder of how lucky I am to be out of the system.  Among other things Ron Glatter comments in his summary that: The report reveals a structure that is fundamentally flawed and that will significantly damage education and worsen inequities.  My disappointment, for what it is worth, is that the government continues to interfere in education, whilst providing schools and the system as a whole with measurements that are self-deceiving.  All students cannot excel academically, and all schools cannot be outstanding, if the measure of outstanding is academic success.  We need to stop fooling ourselves, and to stop rewarding those who allow us to do so.

All change for British education. I just hope it's a good service.

I remember as an undergraduate listening to a discussion on GCSEs, Radio 4.  I was in Ireland, '88/'89; and it seemed to my inexperienced mind that British education was radical and forward-thinking.  Having spent twenty years in the system, however, ten as a Senior Manager, my thinking now is that the government should let it be.  There are too many changes, repetitions and confusions.  Teachers then, I gave up in 2011, have my sympathies as they prepare for another autumn of initiatives.  It should surely be possible to have a system that is simple, enduring and recognisable.  Ross Morrison McGill suggests that that is not the case as yet.