Down with exams

I had an interesting coffee morning the other day. Well, the coffee was pretty usual but the conversation was interesting. A former British Prime Minister has proposed eliminating terminal assessment, aka as final exams, in favor of continuous assessment. Many of his arguments are country or culture-specific, but the exam v continuous assessment topic is an important discussion.

What`s wrong with Democratic and Republican positions on education

Like any educator, I am following (or at least trying to follow) the major parties` positions on K-12 education. While those particular bones have plenty of meat, and some significant differences between them, there is one underlying truth to which both subscribe. Rs and Ds alike adhere to the same principle that there exists a body of knowledge, of "facts", which students should acquire. Much of the disputation in K - 12 education revolves around this body of knowledge, and the problem is that this view is wrong.

You`ll take it and you`ll like it

As I was reading, and being prompted for, an earlier piece, my eye was caught by a nearby headline about customers of a restaurant complaining about its menu. Apparently they went to a restaurant, either because they liked it or because they had heard good things about it, and then complained becasue it did not have the menu they wanted. This reminded me of two experiences of my own, one concerning homework, the other recess.

Fees and Financial Aid, not as black and white as many think

A few days ago, I was consulting to an independent school on income streams and of course, one of the things we discussed was tuition income and fees. Serendipity being what it is, this story then appeared "in my feed", as the youg`uns say, and raises several issues, one of which I would like to discuss.

Schools advertising anonymously

Apparently, an increasing number of schools is advertising for teachers anonymously. The name of the school, and perhaps even its specific location, is not mentioned in the advertisement, and the application email address is generic and secretive, for example "Teachers2022@free.email.account.com". This is not a good thing for the sector, the school and its team and any prospective applicants.

Reviewing reviews

Some years ago, I was Principal of a new private school and of course we had no history or reputation to go on. This time was also the zenith of online reviews, both in terms of the number of forums and in terms of the number of reviews posted. Our school was doing a good job, enrolment continued to grow despite the GFC, our reputation was golden. Except. We did have a few negative reviews and herein lies the tale.

Ghosting and icebergs

I had dinner last night with a former student who recently interviewed for a new job. He had gone through round one, round two and final-round interviews, the last with the company`s CEO. Then silence. No call-back, no offer, no rejection. He followed up and still nothing. He had been ghosted. My young friend thought it was rude, but I subscribe to the iceberg theory. You only ever see 1/9 of the full picture.

Don't get too close

I was sent this piece about a school in England banning physical contact between students from a governance overreach perspective, but I can understand why the school implemented the policy. After all, touching is not always healthy.

Update to my Update

Some months, ago I commented on two mediocre hiring events. I recently heard that a month or two after my piece, one of the two was quietly let go. The group apparently kept him for two years, initial contract?, but enough was ultimately enough. Two years of salary and other costs were wasted, but more importantly, two years of academic progress and success were denied to students.

smh

**Please leave your questions and comments below.**

Further reading

https://teaching-abc.blogspot.com/2021/09/updatemediocre.html

https://teaching-abc.blogspot.com/2021/02/mediocre-hires.html

Standards matter, so what happened?

I was sent this story about a New Zealand engineering college where 80% of its students failed a standards-based examination. While I think that the situation may be a little murkier than it appears, and the reporting does not answer all my qurestions, it does raise two interesting points. Firstly, should a licensing body have a minimum standard for registration, a "bar" if you will? Secondly, who is responsible if an individual fails to meet that bar?