David Hughes J.

Re-examining Success

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to pupils negotiating their way through their extended skills-based research projects (Spiller, 2017). Additionally they have abandoned examinations and a quality control system based on a rigorous inspection regime (Alexander and Orange, 2013).

      

Triangulation point

      For your own school, consider how well the current examination system has served your pupils.

      1.Do you compile destination data of all the pupils leaving your school? What do these figures tell you about how well you have matched your pupils to employment opportunities?

      2.What are the most and least effective elements of your careers and guidance provision?

      3.How effective is your provision in terms of having employers providing curriculum challenges in your school?

      4.How effective is your liaison work with local colleges of education offering vocational pathways?

      Summary

      We have seen that the role of the examination has been central to the path of educational development and that it has effectively acted as a rationing system for educational progression. The case has been made that the examinations system is deeply flawed in both the narrowness of the skills tested and the inflation of the claims that it represents an effective arbiter of pupil ability. That the examination is based on dubious research data has long been known, with the discrediting of the originator of the 11-Plus examination, Cyril Burt (Khyade, 2016).

      But the damaging legacy of Burt’s spurious conclusions still proves to be popular. This is because it rewards those with most to gain from the educational rationing represented by a selective grammar school system. It gives children from such backgrounds greater access to higher education. There is little appetite for change among those who benefit from the existing system. In the meantime, the relationship between examination performance and Ofsted gradings has led to schools cynically ‘off-rolling’ pupils who they consider will not make a positive contribution (Robertson, 2018).

      Clearly, although a wholesale review and update of the examination system to reflect the effective lifelong learner of the twenty-first century is some time away, it will happen. The limitations of English, if not UK, examination practice will be thrown into sharp relief as our international competitiveness is constrained and others take a more progressive attitude to developing the capacity of all their learners.

      Bibliography

       Burke, J (2017) Gove Admits the UTCs Experiment Has Failed. FE Week. [online] Available at: https://feweek.co.uk/2017/02/10/gove-admits-the-utcs-experiment-has-failed/ (accessed 11 September 2019).

       University Technical Colleges (2010) Initial Launch Document. [online] Available at: www.utcolleges.org/media/15074/a5_flyer.pdf/ (accessed 11 September 2019).

      2. DEFINING A GENERATION FOR LEARNING

      Critical issues

      »Understanding the changing timescale of a ‘generation’ in technological and educational terms.

      »Appreciating the impact of technological change on society and learning.

      »Understanding the future in terms of visions, challenges and opportunities.

      »The paucity of government thinking in learning development.

      Talking

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