Commenting on Ofqual's proposed plan for the future of
qualifications, Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary
of the National Education Union, said;
“Ofqual are right that the pandemic has catalysed questions about
assessment in England, however the questions they address are
far too limited. A greater role for technology is worth
researching but, as demonstrated by the Independent Assessment
Commission, parents, students, employers, teachers, assessment
experts and policy makers agree that using exams alone is
outdated and doesn’t pick up all of a young person’s abilities.
'Government determines policy and so should encourage Ofqual to
also research the imbalance in the system between those types of
skills, knowledge and attributes students are tested on in an
exam and the many others, which are currently missed in some
qualifications because no other form of assessment is used, and
memorisation is all that counts.
'We are encouraged that Ofqual says they will look at removing
regulatory barriers where these are blocking valid and efficient
assessments. Clearly, one obvious barrier to meaningful, valid
GCSE and A-Level grades is the condition that all assessment in
GCSEs and A-Levels must be via examination, unless an exemption
is allowed. There is much research and many live examples of
qualifications in England already, which aren't limited by the
same condition and which produce valid, efficient results using
varied assessment methods.
'Education, and the proof of what a student has achieved in their
time at school and college, is about far more than showing what
can be remembered in an end of course exam. Grades and
assessments should reflect this, otherwise we are doing young
people a disservice.”
