Exams; The Great Leap Backwards

Having written my introduction, the difficult second blog would have to be about Something. My guess, and I know me pretty well, would have been "why oh why did Labour oppose Scottish independence so vehemently". Well, that one's coming soon, but I read an article and had Thoughts, and my Thoughts are what this blog is for. So, 'A' levels...

I did my 'A' levels 30 years ago, and the Boy is now choosing secondaries. So, despite working in schools occasionally, until I read this excellent article by the always interesting Laura McInerney I was not aware that 'A' levels are reverting to a one-shot exam model. The piece explains how the changes have been badly planned, and will be bad for students, schools and universities alike. I agree vigorously with all of this and would like to add one further point; single exams are wrong in and of themselves.

Do you get nervous on big occasions? Anxious, sweating, vomiting nerves? Do you suffer from hay fever, diabetes, PMT, or any similar recurring condition? Have you recently had an accident, or a bereavement, or split up with your partner? Tough luck, this single exam defines your future, immediate and long-term. Your excellent coursework, dedication, imagination and flexibility count for nothing if you can't scribble key points and perform complex calculations which at this precise moment in life are utterly without meaning. For three solid hours, to the exclusion of everything else swirling round your head and body.

The snapshot, one-and-done exam was discredited when I did my 'A' levels in the 1980s. Notoriously, universities offered places on predicted grades, causing chaos when life got in the way. Equally notoriously, degree results correlated inversely to 'A' level results, and far more closely to 'O' levels. Which were also one-and-done, but at a generalist level and with far less serious consequences.

From the above, you would probably think I was bad at exams and a diligent courseworker. Precisely the opposite. I am good under pressure and at deadlines, remembering facts and names, forming coherent sentences and arguments, and making a virtue out of my atrocious handwriting (it made it look like I spent the exam trying to catch up with my brilliant thoughts, and won me the benefit of the doubt with names and spellings).

What this meant for my education was that I thought I was invincible. However lazy I was in class, however little homework I did, however many Smiths concerts and football matches I went to, I could pull it all together on exam day and come up smelling of roses. This interesting approach meant that I sailed through 'O' levels, scraped through 'A' levels, and fluked my first year degree exams on pure cunning. And then we began to specialise and I sank like a stone. Because I hadn't done any actual academic work in five years, and the education system had let me get away with that.

I'm a pretty extreme example, but one-and-done exams fail exam experts as much as they fail exam-phobes. Regular reporting and testing, with the opportunity to repeat failed tasks, is far more analogous to most work situations than building up to a single moment. If you're a gymnast, or a singer, then you have to get it right once and once only. Everyone else gets it right by learning, testing, peer feedback, trial and error.

This government more than most is obsessed with education as a preparation for working life, rather than a means of personal development. Perversely, these new old exams will penalise those who work consistently hard in favour of those who have the skill to bring it all together on the day, and the luck that the day is not a bad one.

The Basics

When my son was born I set up what was intended to be the daddy blog which would revolutionise parenting. It ran to a single entry, so my aim that this will be a longer-lasting enterprise is not unrealistic. I hope.

The main aim of this blog is for me to create something with words other than the copywriting, funding bids, minutes, and evaluations which usually bring me to the keyboard. A subsidiary plan is to throw some of my thoughts and opinions into the ether, more to get them out of my head than because I think anyone will be particularly interested. At the risk of sounding like an over-earnest 80s indie band talking to the NME, this really is for me and if anyone else at all appreciates it that will be a bonus.

Having said which, I will post links to this on my Twitter account and may pester relevant people to repost. Just because I'm not expecting people to be interested doesn't mean I won't try and give them the chance.

In the unlikely event you're reading this first post and don't already know me, I'm a southerner very happily settled in the gorgeous and friendly North Yorkshire market town of Masham. I adore Yorkshire and Yorkshire folk - most especially my wife Jan - with the zeal of a convert, and am hoping for honorary citizenship in a few decades' time.

Having spent 15 years running venues in That London, my career is now more portmanteau, taking in fundraising, sustainability, education, and historical research. As administrator of Masham Town Hall, I still get the chance to organise and enable community and arts events, which keeps me relatively sane. This year I had the privilege of co-ordinating Masham's Tour de France Grand Départ steering group, and that weekend in July was an utter life highlight. And I say that as someone who has hiked to the foot of the Grand Canyon, reached the final of Mastermind, and given Bill Bryson his first paid speaking engagement.

My interests, on about which this blog will annoyingly bang, include the arts (in the widest possible sense of that inadequate phrase), politics and social issues (I believe that socialism and love are the answer), and sport (especially Reading FC and baseball's San Francisco Giants). Something to alienate everybody there, I feel. The Boy is thriving on the south coast, bringing me joy and transport costs in equal measure, and while my parentblogging did not change the world I dare say he will inspire some Thoughts as well.

Thanks for reading this. I used to write well, and hope this blog will help me regain some sort of style. With love to everyone, Nick x