17th December 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
A UK club of schools dedicated to improving exam results has said that students should be taught how to pass international education tests. The Performance in Excellence club has said international tests are now so politically significant that students should be taught how to prepare for them. The Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) tests groups of students from all over the world, and the UK has repeatedly failed to perform well. In order to avoid further criticism and political embarrassment, the Performance in Excellent club has said that the UK must improve results by preparing students for the tests.
The Performance in Excellence club consists of 800 schools, where methods are implemented to ensure the highest possible GCSE and A’level results. Their methods are controversial, particularly entering the same student twice for the same subject, using retakes and different exam boards in order to give students multiple chances at succeeding. Although the club has been criticised for ‘gaming the system’ and damaging students’ overall education, they have said that it is vital the UK not continue to lag behind in the international league tables. Club spokesman Sir John Rowling said that the government’s attitude towards the test was damaging, and said that it suited the government for the UK to perform badly so as to support their proposals for education reforms.
The club has said that it is politically convenient at present for students to perform badly, and warned that schools and teachers would take another public beating which would further damage the already few low morale in the profession. Sir John emphasised that blaming schools and teachers would clearly not solve the problem, and that results could be improved if schools were given time to prepare students for the tests, particularly by familiarising them with the style of the exams. He pointed out that, at present, the exams were not taken seriously by schools because they are taken by so few people, and do not seem important compared with GCSE and A level results. He concluded by saying that it mattered a great deal when the results are interpreted by politicians who use the data as evidence to blame teachers and implement unsupported reforms.