Commenting on the report of the Independent Assessment Commission
(IAC) on the future of assessment and qualifications in England,
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and
College Leaders, said:
“There’s a gathering body of opinion that our exams system needs
an overhaul and we welcome the contribution of this report as
part of that important debate.
“Many people in education feel that our current system of GCSEs
is an anachronism which harks back to an era when large numbers
of young people left school at 16 rather than generally going on
to further education and training as they do now.
“The government has doubled down on this anachronism by making
the current iteration of GCSEs rather like old-fashioned O-levels
– very academic, with lots of memorisation, and assessed almost
solely on a large set of terminal exams.
“It does feel as though we need to do things differently and more
flexibly, and there’s a lot to be said for a different style of
qualification, particularly in the gateway subjects of English
and maths. These could be turned into a passport qualification
taken at different levels and built on over time, as we
recommended in our report into the ‘forgotten third’ a few years
ago.
“There is also a strong argument for making more use of digital
technology in assessment, which could not only move us away from
the pen and paper era but allow for more adaptive assessment
built around the individual student.
“But we do need to be conscious also about the importance of
ensuring that any adaptations to the current exam system are
do-able and deliverable, and beware of entirely trying to
re-invent the wheel. This in itself contains enormous challenges
and risks. It is probably a case of evolution rather than
revolution.”
