From a very early age in the UK, we are taught that three things are always for certain: Death, taxes…and exams (up until the age of 18!)

I joke of course, however, it does raise a fairly serious point that there is a genuine concern in the UK that as a nation we are overly obsessed with exams.

The evidence is all around us too – we have constant assessment throughout school: 7+, 11+, Common Entrance, GCSEs and A-Levels.

One would genuinely struggle to find a school system in the world with the same volume of assessment across multiple age groups.

It bemuses me why we still insist on having GCSEs, which for many years have been the subject of debate as to their utility.

It intrigues me as to why the UK loves exams, so much so that I wanted to gain some external opinion outside of the online literature available on this topic.

We have become obsessed with metrics and quantification of results, to the point where teachers find it hard to instil a love for learning with their students simply because they are teaching children to jump through hoops and sets of exams, rather than teaching children to learn.

Here’s an idea…how about we reform quantitative assessment to help kids know and understand what they are good at and where their strengths lie, rather than saying ‘you did poorly in this, therefore you’re not very clever or able’.

The current approach to assessment is far too binary and actually only looks to measure someone’s ability to take a test.

I feel that assessment should be developed into a tool which is constructive to actually help young people with their careers and where their skills lie.

Although not an answer nor solution to the problem, the development of continual assessment in schools (much more similar to university level assessment) is encouraging and might help solve our exam issues.

To be continued soon…

Further Reading: Tom McCleish – Britain’s exam-obsessed narrow education system is failing to prepare students for success in life (The Telegraph)