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BY FOCUSING ON exam results, data and league tables we’re having a negative impact on global education, an education expert said today.
At NUI Maynooth’s Education Forum, Professor Bob Lingard from the University of Queensland, Australia, said that policy makers must move away from evidence-based policy to evidence-informed policy.
Exams and league tables
Prof Lingard was addressing over 100 strategists, policy makers, researchers and practitioners in education who were in Maynooth to debate the theme of Transforming Curricula: Empowering Learners.
He said: “The focus on achieving a narrow set of data, whether it is exam results, school league tables or third level rankings, is leading to a system which is increasingly detrimental to education.”
The professor said that a vision for Irish education is required that is framed by what people see as a desirable future for the nation – socially, culturally and economically.
Education data under evaluation should be expanded to include elements which will lead to a more rounded student and ultimately a better society. This data should inform policy development – but policy should not be solely based on data, which is the situation currently.
He also argued that social inequality needs to be addressed by:
“In times of austerity we must focus our restricted budgets on socially disadvantaged schools and students,” said Prof Lingard.
Entrepreneurship
Also speaking at the forum was Dr Kerry Murphy Healey, President of Babson College, Massachusetts.
Healey spoke about entrepreneurship, and how 20 years ago there was the belief that “you had to be born like [Steve Jobs] to be an entrepreneur, it can’t just happen because you go to school”.
But Dr Healey said things have evolved significantly and now we focus on entrepreneurial thought and action.
Life experience and learning
Professor Gary Granville, Professor of Education, National College of Art & Design said that education should be concerned with enhancing the life experience of the learner in the present moment.
“Educators should be free to engage with the learner as a person in their own right, not as a work in progress,” he said.
Prepared for work or not?
Professor Emer Smyth, Research Professor and Head of Social Research Division at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) spoke about her study that said students are generally satisfied with the personal and social development they get in second level education.
“However, they do not feel sufficiently prepared for the transition to third level or the labour market,” she said.
They are moving from a context where students are treated as children, with little input into policy or procedures, to adult life where students are required to be completely independent, making financial and life decisions, with very little preparation for it.
Professor Philip Nolan, President at NUI Maynooth said that curriculum is an increasingly problematic topic.
It has become a cliché to suggest that learners need to develop the skills of analysis and critical thinking. But designing a curriculum that helps to develop those skills, and can engage the full spectrum of learners, is a much more difficult challenge.
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On a system like the Leaving Cert which is clearly as much strategic as it is academic then yes it has a serious negative impact. My sister did it this year and said people were “Ragin’” what was predicted didn’t come up. Good!! You shouldn’t get to be mad about not knowing what is on an exam. Repeat questions from the year before, mix it up! And attempt marks? What the hell? As my chemistry lecturer in college used to say “If you’re an engineer and your bridge falls down your excuse can’t be “Well, I got the method right.”
Reminds me of the Simpsons sketch….”How do numbers make you feel?” the teacher begins. “What does a plus sign smell like? Is the number 7 odd or just different?”
High points in the leaving cert indicate that the candidate has learned skills necessary to complete exams.
I believe terminal exams have a place in checking knowledge & some skills but in order to be useful they must be part of an approach that engages & challenges the whole person.
There have been some initiatives looking at developing personal & interpersonal skills but as far as I can see it seems to be an either/or situation. People who do not perform well enough in mainstream school go to centres where there is a big focus on social skills and (often) less well known certification. Integration of approaches or sharing of experience of employees & service users of ALL modes of training & education would be a start.
The education?
How about the psychological scarring that the leaving cert causes???
I still have nightmares 10 years own.
There’s so much stress in secondary school exams, if you do well you don’t even feel good about the good results because of the amount of pressure involved, it needs a serious overhaul, I’m doing my junior cert next year, but you know what? I don’t care what I get because I know I’ll still pass everything by a decent margin and at the end of the day its a sheet of paper with letters on it. Also all we do is regurgitate useless information (excluding English, maths, languages and history) which most people will have completely forgotten by Transition year. Rant over.
When exams results and their impact are annually trotted out I always remind myself of GBS comment, having left school at 14, ” that I never allowed my schooling to interfere with my education”.
Feeling as though I should change my opinion. Focus on any element of education is met with such apathy. Why so few comments?
If anyone’s interested in research in this area which doesn’t come attached to pre-conceived notions, I’d recommend Amanda Ripley’s “The smartest kids in the world and how they got that way”.
well, with the way they’ve created this ‘competitive’ market for jobs, they better be ready for the ever increasing amount of phd holders, most of the irish will soon be over qualified for the job of ever increasing cheaper labour. Hilarious really, emigrate or go into business for yourself is all i can see, hence the growth of start ups. Theres a few reasons for that.
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