Testing times: when exams don't work
We work for our entire childhoods with the aim of passing exams which will lead to greater things in our adulthoods. Picking up our exam results is a defining moment which can drastically change the course of our futures, however, this moment is at risk for many exam students in 2021. My name is Freya Edwards and I am in the heart of the storm. Should the exams should go ahead in 2021?
Adults, and more specifically my parents, have been telling me non-stop to look at the benefits of taking exams, and I respond by asking them, where? Where are the benefits? I don’t see them. How is it possible to assess how much a child can learn and understand by testing them simply in a two-hour exam? My teachers tell me I am not behind, however I feel I am. I did my work in lockdown but how can I teach myself from books and online videos to the same standard as I would have been taught by my specialist teachers in our normal lessons? The government have announced a three-week delay in next year's exam season, but will that be enough? Surely we should have our ability assessed through all our current and past classwork, homework and mini-assessments. We simply cannot fairly judge all of the exam students in 2021 when everyone has had different experiences over lockdown, and when so many students across the country have been put into their own local lockdowns and isolations, disadvantaging them to the rest of the population.
Any proposal to abolish exams completely risks putting greater pressure on teachers and teachers' assessment to produce good marks to influence school league tables. A study by a University College in London also suggests that relying solely on teachers' assessment risks a level of bias and prejudice which may extend the disadvantage gap. Delaying the exams allows a little more time for teachers to cover more content in appropriate depth but will that make the difference? Perhaps students should be able to present a portfolio of evidence that shows what they can do, that could be sent to an exam board.
There is no perfect answer. Each proposal has its flaws. But we do need an answer. We need a solution and most importantly we need a sense of certainty that is so rare in these current times.
By Freya Edwards, Year 11
Adults, and more specifically my parents, have been telling me non-stop to look at the benefits of taking exams, and I respond by asking them, where? Where are the benefits? I don’t see them. How is it possible to assess how much a child can learn and understand by testing them simply in a two-hour exam? My teachers tell me I am not behind, however I feel I am. I did my work in lockdown but how can I teach myself from books and online videos to the same standard as I would have been taught by my specialist teachers in our normal lessons? The government have announced a three-week delay in next year's exam season, but will that be enough? Surely we should have our ability assessed through all our current and past classwork, homework and mini-assessments. We simply cannot fairly judge all of the exam students in 2021 when everyone has had different experiences over lockdown, and when so many students across the country have been put into their own local lockdowns and isolations, disadvantaging them to the rest of the population.
Any proposal to abolish exams completely risks putting greater pressure on teachers and teachers' assessment to produce good marks to influence school league tables. A study by a University College in London also suggests that relying solely on teachers' assessment risks a level of bias and prejudice which may extend the disadvantage gap. Delaying the exams allows a little more time for teachers to cover more content in appropriate depth but will that make the difference? Perhaps students should be able to present a portfolio of evidence that shows what they can do, that could be sent to an exam board.
There is no perfect answer. Each proposal has its flaws. But we do need an answer. We need a solution and most importantly we need a sense of certainty that is so rare in these current times.
By Freya Edwards, Year 11