“是時候結束底線競賽了. 我們認為現在是解決等級通脹和降低質量的時候了。” — 邁克爾戈夫
In the fall of 2012, 英國教育大臣, 邁克爾戈夫, outlined proposals for new qualifications in core academic subjects called English Baccalaureate Certificates. 先生. Gove stated that these new reforms would prepare British students for the 21st century and allow them to compete with the best performing education systems around the world.
Are the new performance measures proposed by Michael Gove a solution to “teaching to a test,” improving standards and the overall quality of learning for all students in the UK education system? I asked Michael Young, Emeritus Professor of Education with the School of Lifelong Education & International Development at the Institute of Education, 倫敦大學, 分享他的觀點.
在 2004, Michael Young was commissioned to write a report on the implications of National Qualifications Frameworks for developing countries (ILO 2005). He has been an adviser to countries in Europe, Africa and Asia on their policies on qualifications. 他的書, 瞻知識早在 (2010), 獲得二等獎的年度最佳英國教育圖書.
What do you believe are the best and weakest arguments for having the English Baccalaureate Certificates replace the GCSE’s? What would be your best arguments for keeping the GCSE exams?
The main reason why none of the main political parties will risk supporting the widely held view that GCSEs (該 16+ examination) should be abolished is that they are used as the basis of performance tables which enable government to assert a degree of control over schools at a time when they are weakening the existing controls of local government over schools.
GCSEs are a relic of two earlier initiatives. GCE O levels were established in 1951 to cater for at most 20-30 percent of each cohort (each class of students). 當時, the majority of pupils left school at 15 (with no certificates) for unskilled factory and office work. This youth labour market disappeared in the 1970s, so these kids were staying on in school with no certificate to aim for. A new certificate, the Certificate for Secondary Education (CSE), was created for the low achievers. GCE’s and CSE’s were then merged in the 1980s to create the existing GCSE’s, with five grades (一 – 和); 一, B, C being equivalent to the old O levels and D, 和, ˚F, and G replacing the CSE’s. The latter became largely worthless for either employment or progression to higher levels and the focus of schools was on grade C or above.
同時, assessment for exams was changed from being norm referenced to criterion referenced, with no limits on the numbers being awarded any grade. The proportion of A – C’s increased every year and this led to a demand for an A* grade to differentiate the A’s. The government feared that if they scrapped GCSE’s (most other European countries do not have a 16+ examination), England would drop in the international performance tables (例如. PISA), and that this might cost them votes. 還, there is no tradition for trusting teachers to maintain standards without tests and tables. The problem is that students are increasingly ‘trained for the tests’ 和, according to employers and university teachers, know less and less.
The English Baccalaureate (the E Bacc) is a performance measure not an examination. Until it was introduced, performance tables were based on 5 主題, but only three were compulsory (英語, maths and general science). The E Bacc merely extends the number of compulsory subjects to include two sciences, a foreign language and a humanities subject. This has had two consequences: 第一, schools are dropping many non E Bacc subjects with much opposition from sports and arts communities. 第二, schools with, 說 30 percent of pupils achieving 5 A-Cs on the GCSE subjects, only achieved 5 百分 (or less) on the E Bacc, primarily because they had dropped foreign language when it stopped being compulsory.
英語文憑的優點是加強對成績較差學生的通識教育，去除無用的學生。, mostly quasi-vocational subjects. The government claims that the E Bacc subjects take up 70 percent of the school timetable, leaving adequate time for arts and sports. 然而, the performance tables, which rank schools with implications for resources and student intakes, shape all school decisions, so few of the educational benefits of the E Bacc will be realized as long as they are in place.
The English Baccalaureate is an ill thought out, off the cuff scheme. A better approach would be something along the French Baccalaureate lines, 即. a three pathway (general/technological/vocational) Baccalaureate with 20+ percent of the curriculum in common, which students can take at different ages and for which there is no external examination at 16.
What about taking an approach similar to the International Baccalaureate that measures student’s performance against global peers?
I am a great admirer of the IB, but as an 18+ exam it cannot include more than about 30-40 percent of each cohort without a more applied pathway. I would have a single external examination taken at different ages and abolish performance tables. The key issue is to develop a system in which assessment does not drive curriculum. I am not against the English Baccalaureate in principle. What worries me is its inevitable link to performance tables.
Students learn best when they are being taught to learn as opposed to being taught just to pass a test. Agree?
I agree as long as ‘teaching to learn’ is through specialist subjects. You can only teach or learn something. 教學學習和學會學習的好題材教學產品.
正如我剛才所說, we have standardized tests for social control reasons. 然而, 如果你不具備標準化測試, 社會控制問題仍然. 芬蘭是一個很好的例子. 他們總是高分，PISA的排名，但他們沒有外部檢查，沒有檢查. 他們是如何做到這一點?
第一, 芬蘭人把高價值教育 所有 – 原本出於害怕“大哥’ – 蘇聯.
第二, teaching is a high status profession in Finland. Education faculties in Finland have the highest number of applications for each place.
第三, the richest, most powerful, and most successful parents use the state schools, 即. 不到 1 percent of children go to private schools. They have a stake in the quality of schools. In England, 7 percent of schools are private (fee paying). The political pressure is not to improve state schools but to control them. The rich have no stake in the state schools!
第四, a society has to control schools either by a consensus valuing education for all, or through tests and inspections. If you abolish the latter without establishing the former, you face chaos.
What role should the British government play in education?
Up until the 1980’s and Margaret Thatcher, public education was managed as a relatively inefficient system by a troika of central government, local government, and teacher unions. Thatcher broke all of that up as she thought local government and unions (the providers) had too much power, and parents and employers (consumers) not enough. So she used government to replace ‘provider control’ by a ‘market.’
Why not allow local governments to determine their cities’ or towns’ own educational standards?
It is the rational but not politically realistic option. It’s a view largely shared by the Labour party since Blair.
Surveys indicate that parents want to see the arts included in the new Baccalaureate. What are your best arguments for keeping the arts in this new assessment?
As I said before with regard to other subjects, if they keep the performance tables and bring arts into the E Bacc, it will destroy the arts, as schools will be under pressure to teach to the test! A better but unlikely solution would be to abolish the performance tables and broaden the E Bacc.
Since not every child will pass these new exams, what else can be done to prepare children for the real world and make them more competitive in the job market?
In the last decade, lower achieving students have been encouraged to obtain certificates which have no value outside the tables themselves, as they provide no progress to higher level study and employers do not rate them for jobs. The fact that the students get certificates masks the reality that they are not learning anything. At least the E Bacc’s base curriculum will highlight rather than mask low achievement. The problem is that many schools lack specialist subject teachers in the E Bacc subjects, so unless something is done about teacher supply, nothing will improve.
Photos courtesy of the Institute of Education, 倫敦大學.
在全球搜索教育, 和我一樣，全球知名的思想領袖，包括邁克爾·巴伯爵士 (英國), 博士. 邁克爾座 (美國), 博士. 萊昂特司特因 (美國), 克萊克里斯坦森教授 (美國), 博士. 琳達·達林 - 哈蒙德 (美國), 博士. 馬達夫恰範 (印度), 邁克爾·富蘭教授 (加拿大), 霍華德·加德納教授 (美國), 安迪·哈格里夫斯教授 (美國), 伊馮娜赫爾曼教授 (荷蘭), 克里斯汀Helstad教授 (挪威), 讓·亨德里克森 (美國), 玫瑰Hipkins教授 (新西蘭), 科妮莉亞Hoogland教授 (加拿大), 這位傑夫·約翰遜 (加拿大), 太太. 尚塔爾考夫曼 (比利時), 博士. Eija Kauppinen (芬蘭), 國務秘書塔皮奧Kosunen (芬蘭), 多米尼克·拉方丹教授 (比利時), 休·勞德教授 (英國), 本·萊文教授 (加拿大), 主肯麥克唐納 (英國), 巴里McGaw教授 (澳大利亞), 希夫納達爾 (印度), Ř教授. 納塔拉詹 (印度), 博士. 吳PAK (新加坡), 博士. 丹尼斯教皇 (美國), 斯瑞達拉賈戈帕蘭 (印度), 博士. 黛安·拉維奇 (美國), 理查德·威爾遜·賴利 (美國), 肯·羅賓遜爵士 (英國), 帕西SAHLBERG教授 (芬蘭), 安德烈亞斯·施萊歇 (PISA, 經合組織), 博士. 安東尼·塞爾頓 (英國), 博士. 大衛·謝弗 (美國), 博士. 基爾斯滕都沉浸式 (挪威), 總理斯蒂芬·SPAHN (美國), 伊夫Theze (法國公立高中美國), 查爾斯Ungerleider教授 (加拿大), 托尼·瓦格納教授 (美國), 大衛·沃森爵士 (英國), 迪倫Wiliam教授 (英國), 博士. 馬克沃莫爾德 (英國), 西奧Wubbels教授 (荷蘭), 邁克爾·楊教授 (英國), 和張民選教授 (中國) 因為他們探索所有國家今天面臨的大畫面的教育問題. 全球搜索教育社區頁面
ç. M. 魯賓是兩個廣為傳誦的在線系列，她接受了筆者 2011 厄普頓·辛克萊獎, “全球搜索教育” 和 “我們將如何閱讀?” 她也是三本暢銷書, 其中 真正的愛麗絲夢遊仙境.
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