British Educational System - Case Study Example

British schoolchildren are over-assessed British educational system or rather British schools have come under severe criticism due to the complexity of tests and examinations. Many of the criticism surrounds the over-testing factor because school children are tested when they are seven, eleven and fourteen years of age followed by the national examinations like GCSE at sixteen, AS-level at seventeen and A-level or equivalent when students are eighteen years of age. The General Teaching Council (GTC) claims that the over assessment of school children results in stress. The opinion of GTC is supported by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) also. The chief executive has commented that the nature of teaching has turned to an approach for testing with no detailed ground to test the learning process. Several organizations like the Royal Society, Institute of Physics, the Institute of Educational Assessors and the Children’s Commissioner have also condemned over assessment of school children. The concept of Assessment for Learning was familiarized by Dylan Williams and Paul Black. AFL signifies the requirements for a diagnostic formative assessment with the aim to assist school children to improve with less significance for a cumulative assessment. The failure of the assessment methods have come under strong criticism from several quarters of the educational system. Alan Smithers who works with the Education and Employment Research at the Buckingham University comments that the assessment method is a failure due to the failure of UK state sector standards in comparison to those in other developed countries. Similarly, Peter Motimore former director of the Institute of Education calls for the complete scrapping of the GCSE for its redundant methods of assessment. In lieu of the GCSE, Mortimore recommends other methods of high stakes assessment in British schools. All these criticism are however, defended by the proponents of assessments. Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls affirms that GCSE and A-levels have maintained their standards and that the standard is set to get better in the future. Balls have also announced that the new functional skills qualification will be central for the work linked Specialised Diploma which is set to increase the standard of education further. The school minister Andrew Adonis admits that there is over testing of school children and justifies that assessment enables school children to complete primary education with a good standard in the fundamentals of numeracy and literacy and that is the reason why the education system gives importance to the current method of assessment Though the examination board is silent about the methods of assessment, the managing director of Edexcel, Jerry Javis defends the prevailing assessment methods by stating that there is adequate technology online to assist teachers, students and all concerned to evaluate the performance of students or complain about poor teaching standards in a particular school while following the assessment methods. The argument about over assessment of British school children becomes vague since organizations and individuals like the QCA and GTC which criticize some of the government’s testing policy also agree on the significance of functional skills and personalized skills which form the core of the present examination objectives. Likewise, the initiative of the government to re-orient the testing system by dividing the assessment stages by age is also accepted by the QCA. The new stages of testing will replace the traditional system of assessment which was conducted at the end of strategic educational phase and at the beginning of university education. The argument about over assessment gains significance due to the disparity between the understanding of the elements of a perfect education system and the level of assessment required in the system. It may be summarised that the critics of examinations and testing considers learning or experience as the promoter of education though they prefer individualised self examination. Critics of examination are against the universal standards that are aggressive on testing and prefer to use simple terms like assessment to reduce the impact of testing. Defenders of testing and examination simply prefer examination and testing to assess the extent of educational qualification attained by school children. The government is confused about its stand on measuring the standard and performance of pupils when critics cry about the burden of assessment on children which takes away the child’s innocence (Taylor, Battle in Print). A February 2008 report by Sarah Cassidy states that primary school children are subject to intense pressure due to the numerous tests they have to undergo in various subject at a young age. She states that the number of tests taken by British school children is incomparable with the number of test taken by students in any other country. British school children are most tested than any other children in the primary education segment in the world. The ‘teach to the test’ aspect is given more importance in British school education and adequate test scores are required for parent to select a school for their child. Research shows that testing is used in British schools to control knowledge transfer, to supervise teaching standards and to motivate parents to select schools based on test scores. The research also indicates that assessment methods are pervasive and consequential and concentrates more on the quality of education in primary schools. Teacher’s leaders opine that it is time for a review of the assessment methods. The general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, Steve Sinnott comments that the assessment methods have a devastating result on schools because it controls what is taught and the curriculum is designed to meet the requirements of the tests and the freedom of educators is curtailed. The systems also restricts the students to progress and learn beyond a predetermine level. Children are taught to take tests rather than learn subjects at school. The pressure of taking tests mounts stress on young children. Assessment methods overshadow the general principles of schools, and teachers and head of schools are likely to lose their job if the performance of students measured by the assessment criteria is not up to the mark. Argument and criticism on over assessment has increased in the wake of the UNICEF report that ranked UK to be the worst place for children to have school education in comparison to other twenty one rich nations. In addition to academic consequences, Families minister, Kevin Brennan is of the notion that children will not learn coping skills if they do not have time to play outdoors and keep the child indoors for safety. Parents also feel that their children are over assessed at school (Cassidy, Our children tested to destruction.). Teachers believe that formative assessment is crucial to the standard of teaching and student outcome. They are not interested in summative assessment because it gives importance only to the final result and does not assess the child during the process of learning. Over assessment is entailed when there is too much of exams and restricts the various options to learn (Froom, Interviews with teachers at the Assessment Conference). In conclusion, over assessment of British school children has reduced the nature of education to testing and it has an impact on the curriculum, school day, parent’s contribution, teacher’s responsibility, pupil’s worth and the ability of a child to study is narrowed to a specific type of learning by neglecting all other methods. Though the numerous tests of over assessments are not widely accepted this method is used to count the accountability without giving much attention to the diversity perspective in British schools (Hall, SATurated models of pupildom). Works Cited Cassidy, Sarah. Our children tested to destruction. English primary school pupils subjected to more tests than in any other country. The Independent February 8, 2008. Available: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/our-children-tested-to-destruction-779790.html. Accessed on October 11, 2008. Froom, Roger. Interviews with teachers at the Assessment Conference. Available: http://www.gtce.org.uk/newsfeatures/features/teacher_interviews. Accessed on October 11, 2008. Hall, Kathy, et al. SATurated models of pupildom: assessment and inclusion/exclusion. British Educational Research Journal, 30, (6), 801-817.2004. Available: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/12654/. Accessed on October 11, 2008. Taylor, Mark. Battle in Print: The debate over examinations is little more than a War of the Poses. November 20, 2007. Available: http://www.battleofideas.org.uk/index.php/2008/battles/1072/. Accessed on October 11, 2008. Read More