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School exams 'taking joy out of childhood'

Ohanian Comment: As I said to an e-mail friend, I remember the old days when, as a young teacher, I looked to England for the best practices in educating young children. And now they send us this:
Children are being reduced to little more than "currency" to boost schools’ exam results, according to the architect of the National Curriculum.

By Graeme Paton

Pupils' final year of primary school is being spoilt as schools are pitched against each other in a battle for the best scores, it was claimed.

Mick Waters, former director of curriculum at the then Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, blamed the Government's fixation with testing and league tables. He insisted young people risked missing out on a "joyful childhood".

Mr Waters was in charge of drafting the new National Curriculum – taught in every state school in England – before resigning this summer.

In an interview, he said: "The accountability framework is so demanding with schools pitched against each other.

"The danger is that the children become a 'currency' that can bring us 'scores'. We all know of children who have their last year in primary school spoiled by over emphasis on the narrow diet of the tests."

The comments are the latest in a series of attacks on the system of tests employed in English schools. Pupils are assessed at seven and take Sats tests in English and maths at 11.

On Tuesday, a report published by Britain's biggest exam board called for league tables to be scrapped to stop schools "teaching to the test". A panel of experts – commissioned by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance – said schools were "frequently preoccupied" by official rankings, meaning lessons were often reduced to rote learning to maximise pupils' scores.

In an interview with the latest edition of Teaching magazine, published by the General Teaching Council for England, Mr Waters said: "Children should go places, make things, build things, sing, play, look closely at their world, meet fascinating people and learn about themselves.

"We risk preparing for the future to the extent we overlook the present that all children deserve... a joyful childhood."

Mr Waters left his post at the QCA this summer, and has taken up the role of Professor of Education at Wolverhampton University.


— Graeme Paton
Telegraph
2009-09-16
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/6198789/School-exams-taking-joy-out-of-childhood.html

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