Testing, testing...

Who do you feel more sorry for, the kids or the teachers? as the exam results come out and the media complain - a summer ritual, as reliable as rain - about exams being too easy.
The kids? You spend your school life being taught and tested: up to 5 levels of tests in just 7 years of primary school, followed by more testing in S1 and S2, then S4, S5 and S6. And till you get to Higher stage, you're juggling a ridiculous number of subjects, some of which you don't like and will never look at again in later life. You're constantly under pressure to pass assessments: extra homework, extra classes at lunchtime, after school and in the holidays. And you know you have to do well in fourth year or you can kiss goodbye to the Higher courses you want. And doing well in Highers will decide whether you get into the college or university course you want. Even though these days it doesn't look like there will be a job at the end of it....

The teachers? Prepare your lessons and teach them and then test what the kids have learned, all the stricken time. The kids complain about anything extra you do to try to interest them: 'Is this gonny be in the test?' Your head of department will be breathing down your neck all year, making sure your kids' marks are the same as everybody else's. And the heidie will be breathing down the head of department's neck if your results slip.  And all the while, you know that Her Majesty's Inspectors will continue to tell you your teaching isn't rigorous enough, you're not stretching the kids, it's all about teaching 'smarter' not teaching more - blah, blah. And you just know other departments in the school are inflating marks like crazy to keep kids doing their subjects and keep their results up.

We have in Scotland the most over-assessed schools possibly in the world. We keep on reforming what we do in schools (in the 35 years I worked in education we had 5 major re-designs of the curriculum) and still we continue to slip down the international league tables. In other words, the tests don't work.

There is one sane voice in the middle of all this: Brian Boyd, ex secondary heidie, ex-member of the education directorate at Strathclyde Region, ex-professor of education at Strathclyde University. Brian is looking for teachers and students to be creative, to work together, to enjoy learning. He's got some great notions here:
http://www.journeytoexcellence.org.uk/resourcesandcpd/biographies/biogbrianboyd.asp
I wonder if his ideas will catch on.