4th August 2011 9:00
By Blue Tutors
With the recent government announcement to reduce the amount of external assessment for SAT tests in England, it’s interesting to consider the pros and cons of students all doing the same exams, and being graded by a body separate from their school.
Obviously the very clear benefit is that a single exam, completed by every student, gives us a way to measure and compare students. It could be argued that this isn’t necessarily a good thing, but it certainly makes life administrationally easier for schools and universities when choosing who they want to accept. Maybe a more important question, however, is whether the presence of external assessments creates better students. Do blanket exams restrict teachers to providing short cuts to do well, rather than developing genuine understanding and knowledge of a subject, and ultimately creating a student who is more able to positively contribute to society.
Anyone who has read our articles before will know that Blue Tutors are ideologically against teaching for assessment. We believe very strongly that practically all exams contain aspects that can be improved by familiarity and practice with the exam style, which surely isn’t the goal of an exam, it should be that results can only be improved through increased understanding and knowledge of the subject.
A lot of school teachers agree with Blue Tutors’ opinion here, and it’s the main reason that 4,000 primary schools opted out of the SAT tests last year. Since the primary school curriculum tends to offer more freedom in terms of delivery and content than syllabuses for older students, primary school teachers were opposed to any system which would restrict their ability to teach as effectively as they otherwise would.
Having said this, there is a crucial reason for the government’s introduction of standardised tests for 11 year olds, which becomes clear when considering the goal of state education. What is wanted is a measure of basic skills for students upon leaving primary. We want to know whether they are at a minimum level in Maths and English, and if they aren’t it is helpful to identify whether the fault for that lies with their school. Whether you agree or disagree with the introduction of the tests, it’s difficult to argue against the opinion that they ensure teachers do something beneficial for their students. The other option would be try and subjectively assess each primary school’s teaching, which is a far more difficult and time-consuming approach.