Could GCSEs be scrapped for computer assessments?
As lockdown eases, parents may think it’s the end to computer-based learning and assessments, however, think tank EDSK has recently called for GCSEs to be scrapped and replaced by computer-based assessments by as early as 2025 in a recent report.
The EDSK are a think tank looking to offer a new perspective on education and skills and look at learning on all levels from primary school through to university. They are impartial and aim to design new and better ways to help learners succeed, especially those who are from disadvantaged backgrounds.
READ MORE: Calls for children to be prioritised post-COVID
In their January report, Re-assessing the Future Part 1 – how to move beyond GCSEs, they explore the current GCSE assessment process and the disadvantages it causes and offers suggestions on how to overhaul the system to create a fairer and less stressful examination system moving forward. In this report, they also look at COVID-19 and what failures the pandemic has shown in the current assessment system.
Discussing the current issues GCSEs throw up, EDSK explain how these examinations have been a feature of secondary education for decades, from O-levels in 1951 through to today’s iteration. Bearing in mind the ways the world has changed since then and in education how the mandatory participation age has risen from 16 to 18, they ask whether this style of assessment is still fit for purpose.
Talking more on the disadvantages, EDSK report: “In addition, critics of GCSEs complain about the
burdens they place on pupils and teachers, their distorting effect on the curriculum and the
punitive effects of the accountability system that accompanies GCSEs. The extraordinary
events of the last year have also highlighted the fragility of any assessment system that relies
so heavily on high-stakes terminal exams.” An issue that has certainly been prominent in the past year as many students find their grades uncertain or negatively affected due to virtual learning and lack of examinations.
The extensive report takes a thorough look at the current system and how it is truly working for our children, as well as exploring how changes in both education and the wider world mean it could be an outdated system.
There are two main calls in the report, and they are 1. To reform the way we look at education, splitting secondary education into Lower Secondary (ages 11-15) and Upper Secondary (ages 15-18) and 2. Looking at ongoing computer-based assessments and a focus on progression rather than ‘make-or-break’ examinations.
This would certainly be a large overhaul for education as we know it, however, the reports make for compelling reading that offers a completely new way for our children to learn.
Read the full report here:
What do you think? Is our education system in need of an upgrade or do you believe that these reforms are unnecessary? It’s only natural that as parents we all want what’s best for our little ones, whether that means contacting a nanny agency in London to get help in the younger years or looking objectively at how to reform education in later years and voicing your opinion.
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