The pandemic has had it's upside for our younger generation in that they have been assessed by their teachers who know them and are more qualified to asses them rather than a couple hours and a piece of paper that can determine their future. You will have difficulty this year shoving them into boxes ! It is so great to hear that for once a piece of paper cannot define your social division this can only enhance the confidence in a generation and not stifle it.
Why do we put so much emphasis at grading and defining young people at the most vulnerable time of their lives ? It is one of the most impressionable times of your life and to fail that exam can be thought of as the make or break time of your life, it can effect mental well-being with the thought of disappointing your family and judgments of friends and teachers .
Now some will say ,'well it didn't do me any harm', but in retrospect we do turn round and say,' l failed or passed my exam and look where l am now ?', which then leads onto, 'if you work hard and complete 2/3 hours in a room filling in a piece of paper and succeed the world will be your oyster !' ,However if you do not get the answers correct on that paper your life is deemed ,'effectively over !'
Have we not learned from our own experiences that this is an outdated way to assess the younger generation ?
Exams may have their place but if we are able to assess people rather than sit an exam, surely we will be catering for all types of learners and not just the few and of course we would be lessening the social divisions too.
How have school exams changed over the past 150 years? (cambridgeassessment.org.uk)
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Hi Hédé,
I liked your post. Young people especially from poorer backgrounds struggle enough as it is. They are not always encouraged to study and often even dissuaded from studying by friends family or peers. They have many obstacles to overcome lack of money, opportunity, stress from unstable family life and as you say growing up and all that comes with it.
Now we have had the pandemic and more instability! Time lost off school disrupted timetables and so on. You rightly say that the teachers are the best assessors, because they know their students strengths and weaknesses.
Exam situations are not the ideal indication of what a student is capable of, and teachers can be better at judging the capabilities of their students work.
Gill