TESTING, TESTING… Alison Tremewan, Director of Studies, Sherborne Prep
“If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardised test, I wouldn’t be here. I guarantee that.“ Michelle Obama
T
he examination season is almost upon us, but in all honesty assessment and tests occur throughout the year in most schools. Our young people undergo one form or another of testing, with increasing regularity, throughout their time at school and college; from the baseline testing on entering Reception until they enter their place of work, where yet more tests may still await them. Some degree of assessment, tracking and testing is necessary to evaluate performance; no teacher or employer would dispute this. However, the amount of testing has intensified over the last ten years. As a nation we have become obsessed with scrutiny, measurement, analysis and testing all aspects of a child’s development. So much so, that we have been accused of “weighing the pig at the expense of feeding it” and recent articles in the Guardian and other newspapers have criticised the Government for introducing yet another round of tests for British pupils. This is exacerbated by a society which appears to have lost a degree of confidence in the results of the public examination system, with queries over constant change; the marking procedure; its administration and the suitability of content for the pupils’ subsequent place of education and work. Consequently, our universities are now setting their own entrance examinations in certain subjects. Against this background thousands of children will sit in exam halls over the summer months with varying degrees of anxiety and confidence as they tackle their papers. Teachers will have “taught for the test” and helped with study skills, and parents will have given support and encouragement. Yet it is the young person who has to face the test or examination on his or her
own. The old adage still holds true, “You can take a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink”. The true and successful education of the child is whether he or she, when faced with a test, has not only the relevant knowledge and skills, but the independence of mind, the self-discipline, the understanding of careful preparation, the organisational skills and the self-confidence, selfbelief and self-assurance that they can do their best. Education is far wider than the ability to take and pass an examination. A good education will ensure that a child is prepared for life. He or she will have had the opportunity to develop a love of learning, the chance to discover and develop their strengths and yet learn how to strengthen their weaknesses. Opportunities to develop creativity and the powers of the imagination will have been experienced. The chance to develop the ability to analyse, evaluate, problem-solve and take risks, will have been given and importantly, the young person will have learned to communicate, tolerate, empathise and work with individuals and within a community. These are the life skills necessary to fit them for life in society. The examination itself is not the “be all and end all” of a young person’s education but the development of the character of the individual, in all its facets and potential, who faces the test, is! I think Plato summed it all up when he said: “Do not train children to learn by force and harshness but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of genius of each.” www.sherborneprep.org www.sherbornetimes.co.uk | 23