Coursework and exams

Sunday, January 11th, 2009

When I was a kid, we had homework and schoolwork of course but you only got your state qualifications by passing examinations at 16 and at 18, the latter being the route to university. Some time later, they came up with the idea that a child's future should not hinge on a 3 hour exam or whatever but that their performance over the whole school year should be taken into account. Thereby, their success or otherwise at state examinations would depend on their coursework and their exam performance.

Not a bad idea I thought, in concept, although I recognised that exams were a reflection of the real world - ie think on your feet with no time to look things up.

Oh but then I overlooked the behavioural angle. Kids, their parents and their teachers want to win and an added incentment to all this was the increasing emphasis on school performance stats. So the kids plagiarised the internet to do their homework and the teachers encouraged them. And now we have graduates who have no idea how to solve a quadratic equation or any awareness of how to calculate the depth of a toilet drop in Africa.

Today, the Tory Party has said it wants to scrap the coursework as a qualification and give state qualifications based on exams alone. I recognise that this will favour those that have good memories but is that so bad? In much of daily life, we must make decisions without resource to the internet or our teachers and that is what an exam tests. Thinking on your feet is what so much of life is all about.

Same with learning by rote. Fine, you may be smart enough to understand the fundamentals of mathematics. But if you are not, I see no harm in chanting - 1 seven is seven, 2 seven's are 14 and so on. It will get you by in the shops.