29th June 2016 1:00
By Blue Tutors
A head teacher has warned that England’s “exam culture” is leaving bright students behind. Jonathan Taylor of North Bridge House Senior School in London has said that the narrow focus on obtaining A* results has meant that many bright students are not getting the support they need to reach their potential. He noted that the heavily writing-based style of testing meant that the abilities of some very able and creative students were unaccounted for in the system, and warned that bright students who obtained B grades were being overlooked. He raised concerns that schools feel compelled to focus on maintaining a reputation for obtaining A and A* results, and saw students on track for anything less than an A grade as a threat.
Critiquing the current exam system, Taylor said that the answers required by GCSE exams are so formulaic that they regularly fail to account for the talents of bright students who did not produce model answers. He noted that students excel in different areas, pointing out that many students have a talent for explaining ideas verbally rather than in writing. He also warned that boys in particular struggle to play the exam game, and that failure to achieve perfect results lead to a loss of confidence in a system which only valued top grades. Critics of the exam system have warned that increasing pressure on students to achieve top results is leading to an alarming increase in anxiety and depression amongst students.
According to the Association of School and College leaders, there has been a sharp rise in the number of pupils grappling with anxiety, depression, self -harm and eating disorders which are linked specifically to exam stress. 55% of head teachers said that they has experienced a large increase in cases, and were experiencing a large volume of complaints from parents about the stress school was causing to their children. The ASCL said that the problem was particularly profound in selective schools, where students were reportedly often made to feel like failures for not achieving top results. Parents recently staged a school boycott, as part of a campaign “Let our kids be kids” designed to highlight the problems of exam culture in England’s education system.