Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head.
There is no doubt that coronavirus has presented schools with many challenges. Within an ever-changing landscape, schools have had to establish and deliver remote teaching and learning alongside continued onsite provision for the children of key workers or those who are vulnerable; provide assessments to replace cancelled examinations and roll out COVID testing.
Mass vaccination offers us a hopeful way forward in a post-coronavirus world. But what opportunities has the pandemic presented? What will we have learned?
Until recently, the government had clung firmly to the notion that public exams must take place in schools and colleges in England this summer. But A levels and GCSEs have now been cancelled for a second year running and we wait to see how they will be replaced this summer. Hopefully, lessons will have been learnt and we won’t see again the shambolic arrangements that prevailed last year. When we eventually escape this awful pandemic, it would be wrong just to default back to how exams were. The cycle has been broken and we have an opportunity to overhaul our exams system to ensure it is fit for purpose.
It has been interesting to observe students’ reactions when exams have been cancelled. Uncertainty breeds anxiety and frustration. Some lose their focus and motivation. They start to question the purpose in continuing to study if there are no examinations. This isn’t entirely down to youthful fecklessness. It’s because we have allowed exams to override children’s relationships with learning. We are starting to see the cost of this in their wellbeing and mental health. We have lost sight of the intrinsic value of learning, including as a progressive activity that allows access to ever higher learning and content. It is, of course, vital that we preserve challenge and academic rigour. This is important for all sorts of reasons including in identifying and preparing the next generation of doctors and scientists, who have served us so well in this pandemic.
It is also time to acknowledge that schools are charged with so many other things in addition to delivering qualifications. Whilst helping to create a fairer and more equal society, they are also expected to deliver, amongst other things, mental health, wellbeing and character traits such as resilience.
And what about the form of assessment itself? The pandemic has reduced the debate to a binary one. Exams versus teacher assessment. Does it have to be either or? Is there no room for the best elements of both? The government regularly points to exams as the fairest form of assessment. On the face of it, exams present an apparent level playing field but that’s not to say they are entirely fair or accurate.
At Newcastle School for Boys, we are pioneering our own sixth form curriculum in partnership with neighbouring independent girls’ school, Westfield. For now, at least, A levels remain at its heart, but we also recognise vocational qualifications – more suited to some of our students – as well as other academic enrichment that requires interest and passion beyond the taught curriculum and that question often asked by students – do we need to know this for the exam? We are trying to place equal value on the opportunity for our students to develop skills and attributes desperately sought by modern employers: creativity, collaborative working, problem-solving, communication and resilience. At the same time, we are seeking to develop life skills such as financial management and a degree of domestic capability.
It is early days, and we are learning a great deal as we go. We have but the resources of two smaller independent schools but hope that the national debate can now move beyond the narrow form of assessment that is examinations – devised and implemented in the earlier part of last century – towards a more modern, sophisticated, and fit for purpose system.
Coronavirus has brought much hardship and suffering. Its legacy must be an opportunity to rethink and refresh what drives education and how, what and when we assess. For more information about Newcastle School for Boys, visit www.newcastleschool.co.uk or contact admissions@newcastleschool.co.uk