English schools are the best in the world???

[shadowavenger]

Reading the morning news, I came across this article. This is an insight into the appalling state of the UK secondary education system. The education system in the UK has traditionally been seen as one of the best in the world, and UK qualifications are recognised by employers and universities all over the world.

Comments

[shadowavenger]

I'm sorry if I came across as aggressive or diminutive in this. I didn't mean that the achievements of people who only get 20% on the higher tier paper are unworthy in some way. I know the way the papers and the exam syllabus are structured is utterly, utterly ridiculous (I was in a class of 20 and we didn't get a chance to do much individual work, I know class sizes in state schools can be more than double that).

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the students. I'm saying there's something wrong with the system. I'm aware schools put people in for higher tier maths exams when they don't understand the vast majority of the syllabus and there is no time to cover it. I know that both teachers and pupils are working under utterly ridiculous conditions to try and pass these exams. What I'm saying is that if 20% is a pass mark, something needs to change. That something, in my opinion, is the way we treat our young people and our educators, and the way the syllabus is structured. We have tried to make exams 'easier' by making them more prescriptive, and it has failed miserably because instead of working on understanding concepts and giving a decent amount of time to understanding how the subject actually works, teachers just have to spend all their time telling their pupils to memorise the syllabus. GCSEs try to be all things to all people, and they are failing miserably.

I'm not saying that 20% is a piece of piss to get, I'm saying that if a mark of 20% is supposedly a valid expression of competancy in a subject, then something in the examination and education system is very, very wrong. We're selling young people short and not teaching them how to think and understand concepts, only how to rote memorise and spew out facts that mean nothing to them and that they cannot apply to any situation other than the one that has been directly taught to them. That is not education.

I'm proud of my mark too. My teacher wasn't. She spent two years telling my mother that I was lazy and not working hard enough and that I should be working to A* standard. My mother and I spent two years laughing in her face. Forced overachieving is no more useful or productive than encouraging underachievement, but something needs to change.