The Times - It’s a bit late now to say exams aren’t everything

I spotted this article The Times and felt it was worth sharing. 

Unfortunately it has a paywall attached. If you have a The Times subscription, it is worth reading the full article.

The chief inspector of schools thinks teaching to the test is a betrayal — no wonder teachers and pupils are confused.

As half a million children were sitting their GCSEs this summer, agonising over tougher questions on everything from simultaneous equations to carrots, I met Amanda Spielman, chief inspector of schools. Pupils, parents and teachers, she said, were too hung up about exams. I thought she was joking. Schools were in the middle of the hardest new exams for generations, partly overseen by her when she was head of Ofqual, the exams regulator. My daughter had just spent hours learning myriad quotes and formulae.

This weekend details of Ms Spielman’s new inspection framework were leaked, suggesting that schools will no longer be judged by Ofsted inspectors on these results. They will now be marked down if they try to cram children, forcing them to revise too…