It's 30 years since I took my exams at the end of my school life. Big changes happened to English exams the year after, but now they're changing back (sort of). They do say history repeats itself.
Now 30 years ago we were under the iron fist of Maggie Thatcher, the evil Tory Prime Minister who managed to decimate the north of England during her reign. One of the few decent ideas that the government of the time had was to make end of school examinations fairer. The system of the time involved two types of exam; GSE O' Level and CSE. Both qualifications involved a final exam on which you were graded on your performance. The exams had previously been in place for 20-30 years but the plan to make the qualifications fairer meant that both qualifications were to be merged into the GCSE and coursework would make an important part of the overall assessment. This meant for the first time pupils who struggled with cramming for final exams would get a fair crack at success.
Fast forward to our current government, another Tory leadership but the dynamic is completely different. They have decided in their wisdom that because kids were flourishing with a system of coursework + exam they would change things back to a final exam approach.
This will only benefit the higher classes in the best schools. After all there is a record number of working class people attending universities and our government of rich millionaires can't have that. This, in my opinion, is an exercise in keeping the rich and powerful in place whilst keeping the lower classes where our leaders think they belong.
Now 30 years ago we were under the iron fist of Maggie Thatcher, the evil Tory Prime Minister who managed to decimate the north of England during her reign. One of the few decent ideas that the government of the time had was to make end of school examinations fairer. The system of the time involved two types of exam; GSE O' Level and CSE. Both qualifications involved a final exam on which you were graded on your performance. The exams had previously been in place for 20-30 years but the plan to make the qualifications fairer meant that both qualifications were to be merged into the GCSE and coursework would make an important part of the overall assessment. This meant for the first time pupils who struggled with cramming for final exams would get a fair crack at success.
Fast forward to our current government, another Tory leadership but the dynamic is completely different. They have decided in their wisdom that because kids were flourishing with a system of coursework + exam they would change things back to a final exam approach.
This will only benefit the higher classes in the best schools. After all there is a record number of working class people attending universities and our government of rich millionaires can't have that. This, in my opinion, is an exercise in keeping the rich and powerful in place whilst keeping the lower classes where our leaders think they belong.
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