By Mike Ion

AST Education Director

Our exam system is a mess. Now is the time to reshape it.

There has been a growing belief that there is something wrong with our exam and assessment system. In particular, people question why we are continuing with the curious anomaly of a school leaving age exam at 16 – GCSEs – when young people can’t leave education until 18. Many young people find the way our exam system works increasingly stressful and not a true reflection of what they are good at. Many employers complain that exams do not provide them with good enough clues as to who they are employing. Many who are passionate about social mobility believe that any system that dooms a third to fail is a system with little sense of social justice.

A new website – see below- provides a place for those who want change. The aim is twofold:

• To make the argument through case studies, analysis, evidence and thoughtful blogs;
• To start to provide some workable solutions, practical ideas and approaches that we will pilot in our schools and offer as real alternatives.

So, if you believe now is the time to rethink assessment, join us, help us, add your voice and ideas.

https://rethinkingassessment.com/rethinking-assessment-home/