Exam proposal fails to make the grade

IF Minister Quinn thinks that a switch to portfolio/project assessment is the magic bullet which will genuinely improve educational standards, then it is he who is “codding himself”.

The present terminal exam system has become reliant on learned-off, pre-prepared responses, but this can be changed in a heartbeat by altering the type and thrust of questioning in terminal exams. Any setter worth the name can come up with questions which focus on interpreting and applying knowledge rather than merely recalling it. This would ensure the integrity of results, alter the focus from learning off to real understanding and won’t cost a cent to implement. Should he choose to persist with the portfolio route, “grinding” of pupils will merely be replaced by “help” with portfolio preparation, resulting in students who can afford it, presenting another’s work as their own and those who can’t, becoming experts at “cut and paste”. It would be cheaper to dispense with supervision and correction of state exams, especially if he can force teachers to assess their own students, but the outcome will be results that aren’t worth the paper they are written on.

Greta Harrison