Overexamined, undereducated
Tens of thousands of schoolchildren, many of whom will have spent the Christmas break cramming and fretting over the new year exams, look likely to be given a reprieve by the snow. With about half the UK’s schools closed, there is increasing uncertainty about the GCSEs and A levels that are scheduled to begin on Monday. Should the exams be rescheduled for the summer, creating a pile-up of assessments in an already over-assessed academic year? Or should exam grades be issued on the strength of coursework that has already been submitted?
Britain’s children are simultaneously overexamined and undereducated. This problem extends across all age groups, as the Cambridge Primary Review found last year. But it is especially acute at secondary level.
Many readers will remember a time when there were two sets of major exams: GCSEs then A levels. Those days are long gone. Students now take the new AS levels between GCSEs and A levels. Moreover, instead of coming at the end of the academic year in the summer, exams are now split into modules that crop up during the year.
Examining, not education, dominates the agenda. Politicians demand never-ending “improvements” in exam results. So do many headteachers. Teachers are forced to narrow their focus towards cramming. No wonder some independent schools are switching to the International Baccalaureate, which has a Middle Years Programme free of external assessment.
Exams can be useful. But they become self-defeating when they are never-ending. Increasing assessment once had the sensible intention of making it easier to measure essential skills. But the curriculum should lead the exam, not the exam lead the curriculum.
1 Find words in the text that refer to people
Example: teachers, ...........
Tens of thousands of schoolchildren, many of whom will have spent the Christmas break cramming and fretting over the new year exams, look likely to be given a reprieve by the snow. With about half the UK’s schools closed, there is increasing uncertainty about the GCSEs and A levels that are scheduled to begin on Monday. Should the exams be rescheduled for the summer, creating a pile-up of assessments in an already over-assessed academic year? Or should exam grades be issued on the strength of coursework that has already been submitted?
Britain’s children are simultaneously overexamined and undereducated. This problem extends across all age groups, as the Cambridge Primary Review found last year. But it is especially acute at secondary level.
Many readers will remember a time when there were two sets of major exams: GCSEs then A levels. Those days are long gone. Students now take the new AS levels between GCSEs and A levels. Moreover, instead of coming at the end of the academic year in the summer, exams are now split into modules that crop up during the year.
Examining, not education, dominates the agenda. Politicians demand never-ending “improvements” in exam results. So do many headteachers. Teachers are forced to narrow their focus towards cramming. No wonder some independent schools are switching to the International Baccalaureate, which has a Middle Years Programme free of external assessment.
Exams can be useful. But they become self-defeating when they are never-ending. Increasing assessment once had the sensible intention of making it easier to measure essential skills. But the curriculum should lead the exam, not the exam lead the curriculum.
1 Find words in the text that refer to people
Example: teachers, ...........
2 Match the expressions from the text to the correct meaning.
1 to cram a to appear suddenly
2 to fret over b It’s not surprising
3 to crop up c counterproductive
4 to be given a reprieve d To escape punishment (temporarily)
5 Those days are long gone. e to study hard just before an exam
6 No wonder f The situation today is completely different.
7 to dominate the agenda g to worry about
8 self-defeating h to control what happens
3 Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.
a) serious (paragraph 2)
b) divide (paragraph 3)
c) change (paragraph 4)
4 Who does these things – a student or a teacher?
does homework / corrects homework
hands in homework /gives back homework
sets a test / sits a test
gets a mark / gives a mark
explains the content of a lesson / takes notes of the content of a lesson
5 Choose the right word.
I’m in the third (1) year /course of Compulsory Education. I have to study 9 (2) signatures /subjects. At the moment, I’m getting good (3) marks /notes in 8 of them but I (4) failed /suspended the Physics exam. I have to (5) make / do another exam at the end of term and I hope I (6) pass / approve!
Key
1
Schoolchildren, children, readers, students, politicians, headteachers
2
1 - e, 2 – g, 3 – a, 4 – d, 5 – f, 6 – b, 7 – h, 8 – c
3
a) acute b) split c) switch
4
a student does homework, hands in homework, sits a test, gets a mark, takes notes
a teacher corrects homework, gives back homework, sets a test, gives a mark, explains the content of a lesson
5
1 year 2 subjects 3 marks 4 failed 5 do 6 pass
1
Schoolchildren, children, readers, students, politicians, headteachers
2
1 - e, 2 – g, 3 – a, 4 – d, 5 – f, 6 – b, 7 – h, 8 – c
3
a) acute b) split c) switch
4
a student does homework, hands in homework, sits a test, gets a mark, takes notes
a teacher corrects homework, gives back homework, sets a test, gives a mark, explains the content of a lesson
5
1 year 2 subjects 3 marks 4 failed 5 do 6 pass
