Exams are still a pathetic method of assessment, regardless.
University contradiction
- Thread starter Mitty
- Start date
Exams are still a pathetic method of assessment, regardless.
No you wouldn't even the roughest schools in the country would not need to loose anything like that many. It is very much a minority that cause a significant enough disruption to efect the learning of others, but don't let that stop your daily mail style ranting!
In response to a1ex2001, I know what I am doing at university and what purpose my degree and qualification provide. I was just having a rant about my exam. We are also assessed using tests in order to qualify as a teacher by QTS skills tests. These are undertaken in an artificial environment and are timed.
Also I stand by my opinion that exams and assignments aren't the best methods for assessing a degree or any course. There are more formative ways of assessing people which is something I have learned from doing my degree.
Also I stand by my opinion that exams and assignments aren't the best methods for assessing a degree or any course. There are more formative ways of assessing people which is something I have learned from doing my degree.
The argument that exams are not a good method of assessment is one that is used when talking about those who are deemed to be academically weak, and is something that came about due to Labours strive for "equally" - where you can't tell kids who are clearly thick as 2 planks that they are thick, oh no ... you simply say "well the method of testing does not allow you to fully show your abilities".
For a proper academic subject, like maths & sciences, exams are the best way of assessment.
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Well I think that's quite closed minded. Exams are a good way of assessing but achievement should not be based purely on their results. Also, referring to children who are academically weak as thick as two planks is just awful. Mathematical and reading skills are important but they are not all that matters in life.
Are you suggesting we just lock away these children who are academically weak and ignore them so teachers don't have to deal with them?
You can assess mathematics and science through other means. For example, you can't do an exam on problem solving in mathematics as it's not about the answer, it's about how you get to the answer.
Also if you are so concerned about academic achievement, I think you should take a look at your own writing.
Are you suggesting we just lock away these children who are academically weak and ignore them so teachers don't have to deal with them?
You can assess mathematics and science through other means. For example, you can't do an exam on problem solving in mathematics as it's not about the answer, it's about how you get to the answer.
Also if you are so concerned about academic achievement, I think you should take a look at your own writing.
Err yes you can, it's called showing your working ... which you can mark, and you can even phrase the questions so that it tells you that you must show all your working.
Given the number of schools that already 'bend the rules significantly' to improve their SAT results do you really believe that allowing teachers to use continuous classroom assesment and their own judgment will result in children being accurately assesed? Schools and teachers have to much of a vested interest in the results for external examinations to be dropped.
Achievement can only ever be based on results. If you want to mark for effort, fine, but kids won't last ten minutes in a job if they're trying really hard but failing at every turn.
Mitty said:
While I agree with you, we have rather made them as such in this society, given the way the economy has all but got rid of any skilled work or manual work.
Mitty said:
I think we'd agree that teaching methods must be tailored to the pupils in question, but on that basis you shouldn't attempt to teach strongly academic kids in the same way as weakly academic kids because then you do the strongs ones a disservice.
Mitty said:
As said... show your working. Job done.
So I say again; where do you draw the line? It doesn't take much to disrupt a class (what is a "minority"? what are "mildly", or "really", or "significant enough disruption"?) when class sizes are large and teachers stressed. Do you only remove the children who are clearly mentally incapable of doing the work, or do you remove the extremely smart ones who feel so under-challenged by a purely academic class which holds no interest for them that they become disruptive through boredom?
And stop throwing comments like "daily mail style ranting" around. It just makes you seem like you have to label people who don't agree with you.
No, exams are a good method of assessing one thing: can you regurgitate enough information about a specific topic to answer a small number of specific questions on that topic, in a fixed amount of time under stressful circumstances. Sometimes that requirement matches the requirement of a given academic course. Usually, I would suggest, it doesn't.
Sadly there are few provably "better" alternatives which don't require a lot more class time. One possible method would be coursework, managed with University-style supervisions or tutorials so that the teacher is always aware of the student's progress and so can understand the student's thought processes and appreciate their level of understanding of the subject. I'm aware that the resources simply don't exist to use such a method in most teaching environments.
This simply isn't true. There are some incredibly dense people who thrive on cramming for, and passing exams, and some incredibly smart people who simply cannot handle the format, or the pressure, of an exam situation, and so under-perform. These, and others, are the argument against exams. And those are only arguments which apply to subjects whose material actually suits an examination!
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Agree with pretty much everything above.
On a seperate note I can't believe we've got trainee teachers who don't think we can assess mathematical problem solving through exams... it's pretty much the only way to realistically assess it. Coursework is extremely liable to cheating, especially since there will only be a few ways to arrive at an answer so can't distinguish different people's work as easily... And in class assessment is liable to corruption and favouritism.
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Never said I wasn't academic. I actually said that I can write you an academic essay but will that make me a better teacher? I don't think so.
Can't wait to have my own little class and help them to achieve the best of their potential.
Can't wait to have my own little class and help them to achieve the best of their potential.
Can't wait to have my own little class and help them to achieve the best of their potential.
If their potential is nothing then they will achieve nothing
These are humans we are talking about. Not stationary objects.
There are quite a few successful people who didn't do well at school but could have done even better with a different style of education.
Most humans have the same mental capacity, its just how the connections in the brain are made and nurtured that changes how clever we actually are.