Posts tagged kill off GCSEs
The Times: Open Letter - Rethinking Assessment: Mutant exam system is failing our children
The Times: Open Letter - Rethinking Assessment: Mutant exam system is failing our children

In this letter, leading educators demand urgent action as they launch a group aiming to overhaul the testing regime in schools.

We were told this summer that it was a “mutant algorithm” that had caused the anguish of the exam fiasco. Covid may have exposed the failings, but in truth, something more profound is going on, and it has been brewing for years: we have a mutant exam system.

Created with good intentions — “to raise standards” — it has mutated into something that neither measures the right things nor is very reliable, and leaves in its wake a trail of stress and unfairness.

Many of those who are involved in the exams merry-go-round are reaching the same conclusion — it’s not fit for purpose and needs to change.

This week a new group— Rethinking Assessment — is being launched to do something about it.

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Business, Charity, Education, Exam Results, Family, Interview, Lockdown, Media Article, Pandemic, Self & WellbeingSarah NorrisLando EducationOpen letter, Lando Education, Lando, GCSEs, kill off GCSEs, exam fiasco, Covid, Pandemic, Rethinking Assessment, Independent schools, OECD statistics, PwC, KPMG, EY, Lord Baker, Dame Glenys Stacey, Ofqual, Pisa programme, OECD’s Pisa programme, TechnologyComment
TES: Why we must scrap GCSEs: 4 ways to form a better system
TES: Why we must scrap GCSEs: 4 ways to form a better system

Sarah Fletcher, the high mistress of St Paul's Girls' School in London and a member of the HMC, offers thoughts on better ways young people can be assessed than out-dated GCSEs.

Everything has changed over the past few months.

We have put students from across the world in the same classrooms, safeguarded new ways of working and shared resources and online platforms.

Most extraordinary of all, teachers have helped in the awarding of grades and we have cancelled all assessments from key stage 1 to key stage 5.

Imagining the unimaginable is something we should do more often! And what better place to start than with the curriculum?

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Education, Business, Exam Results, Family, Higher Education, Lockdown, Media Article, Pandemic, Self & WellbeingSarah NorrisLando EducationSPGS, St Paul's Girls' School, independent schools, private schools, state schools, GCSE, kill off GCSEs, Sarah Fletcher, headmistress, students, classrooms, teachers, key stage 5, modern curriculum, outdated system, demagogy of a cyber world, demagogy, cyber world, Global affairsComment
The Guardian: Private and state schools bid to kill off GCSEs
The Guardian: Private and state schools bid to kill off GCSEs

A coalition of private and state schools is expected to launch a campaign to end GCSEs, as growing numbers of schools look at alternatives to the exams following the summer algorithm debacle.

Eton, Bedales, St Paul’s girls’ school, Latymer upper school and several substantial academy chains have been joined by Margaret Thatcher’s education secretary, Kenneth Baker, who created GCSEs, to discuss proposals for replacing the exam system.

The group, Rethinking Assessments, is likely to launch a formal campaign in the next few weeks, forcing ministers into a battle for control of school qualifications.

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Education, Exam Results, Family, Lockdown, Maths, Media Article, PandemicSarah NorrisLando Educationprivate schools, independent schools, state schools, GCSE, Pandemic, Covid19, The Guardian, kill off GCSEs, Eton, Bedales, St Paul’s Girls’ School, Latymer upper school, exam algorithm, Kenneth Baker, Rethinking Assessments, formal campaign, Geoff Barton, Association of School and College Leaders, Gavin Williamson, education secretary, teachers, teacher-assessed grades, Tower College, Microsoft One Note, Zoom, Peter Hyman, Big Education Trust, Cognita, The Inspiring Futures programme, OfqualComment