Now that this year’s A levels/GCSEs have been decided, is this a good time to think about our examination and assessment system? 1/25 
Exams are not new. The Chinese had the Imperial examination system for officials from the Song dynasty (960–1279) onward ending in 1905. In England examinations have a much more recent history. 2/25
In the 1790s William Farrish, a chemist, was tired of orally examining students so he set written questions for them to answer in writing. 3/25
But what is the purpose of an exam? Is it to find out how much a student has learned? If so what do we mean by ‘learning’? Is gaining knowledge, for example, learning? 4/25
I once taught a group of 30 non-science undergraduates Avogadro’s number. It is a ‘thing’ in chemistry. It is 6.02214076×10²³ mol⁻¹. In the first session I got them to write it down and try to memorise it. By the end of the session about 20 had memorised it. 5/25
Had 20-30 learned it? Yes, in some ways they had, but learning is more than memorisation, yes? Yes. If I kept on about them memorising it and, by the end of 11 weeks 25/30 could recite it perfectly (I think some didn’t bother) they may sit an exam. 6/25
If I had an exam and asked: What is Avogadro’s number (to 4 significant decimal places)? And 25 could write down 6.0221×10²³ mol⁻¹ then they would have full marks in the exam. So far so good. 7/25
But what have they learned? Not much, so my next question is, do they understand what the number represents? Probably not (indeed none of them remembered it from High School chemistry). So, what then is understanding? 8/25
Now we must go deeper than simply memorising something & relate it to other things. Someone who understands knows that Avogadro’s number ‘relates the number of constituent particles in a sample with the amount of substance in that sample’ eg electrons, atoms, ions, molecules 9/25
For a chemist, if I have 55.85g of iron, then I know that contains 6.0221×10²³ atoms of iron in my sample. We call this one mole of iron. Now this is very useful for chemists but not students studying history of politics in education, I agree. 10/25
Perhaps a good examination tests not what you remember, your knowledge, but your understanding.But what about skills? Do I want my surgeon to know & understand my body, but be clumsy using a scalpel? A mechanic who ‘knows’ how an engine works but can’t dismantle/repair it? 11/25
Perhaps then in schools (and elsewhere) we want to test/examine/assess not just knowledge and understanding but skills? OK but how do we do this? Practical exams in science (eg I did dissection at A level) or painting in Art, making things in D+T etc. 12/25
Now we're talking! Let’s assess all those, but can we do that? If children do practical things at home (D&T project) how do we know THEY did it rather than their older sibling or a parent? The same goes for coursework… Is it REALLY the child’s work or from someone else? 13/25
That sort of assessment is fraught with problems; gaming, someone else doing it or even – heaven forbid – teachers doing the work to ensure a good grade! High stakes. That’s our next problem. Exams are not just high stakes for the students, but also for staff and schools! 14/25
There was a time when, in parent evenings, a poor set of end-of-year exams or poor mock results would be interpreted by parents as the fault of the student (well in my case at least). Do you ever feel today, that, if a student is not achieving, it’s your fault as a teacher? 15/25
Well this comes down to accountability and responsibility. It’s quite simple – teachers are accountable for what they teach BUT the responsibility for the final grade MUST be down to the student. After all, only the student can sit the exam – not the teacher. 16/25
But our education system is such that schools, teachers and Headteachers are judged by the results of their pupils. They bear the brunt of accountability AND responsibility for student outcomes. We devise league tables and OFSTED judges schools (partly) on such outcomes. 17/25
Assessing learning then is very complex and & difficult and, so far the best we have is a written set of examinations (devised circa 1792) in order to make all these complex judgements on student learning, knowledge, understanding and skills. So what can we do?18/25
1. we must look again at the ‘high stakes’ and remove this from the ‘equation’ that way we remove the incentive for gaming and we can allow teachers to be the professionals they are and genuinely assess what their students know, understand and can do. 19/25
2. we must set up a review body to radically overhaul our examination & assessment system to ensure all assessments test for knowledge, understanding & skills (in a written examination I'd see logic & logical argument as a skill) & devise low stakes high quality coursework. 20/25
3. Remove league tables as a measure of success of schools &school leaders and examination results of classes and cohorts, as a measure of teacher performance, from the system. This will allow teachers to be the professionals that they are and assess without fear or favour. 21/25
4. We must look again at how our curriculum delivers for ALL pupils, not just as a means of providing base knowledge f or the nest, higher stage of study in a subject. 22/25
5. Universities should devise a first year of variety and ‘electives’ across various subjects for students to experience and only in year 2 should they specify and decide on their ‘major’ subject/subjects (as per the USA). 23/25
6. We must value vocational skills-based subjects more, with those who want to follow a vocational route supported and appreciated as much as those who wish to train as a doctor or do PPE at Oxbridge. 24/25
7. The obsession with constraining grades & achievement must end. Every year is unique some years will achieve better results that other years. Fixing exam results to be ‘similar’ year on year means we're manipulating results to fit a model not rewarding achievement. 25/25
