‘We’re going to university and we’ve never taken an exam in our lives’
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/were-going-university-weve-never-29391543?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0bjrUG2hCuverdMqFxJh8fKOR7JrVJIYU2mT_IU3FCys5MjCR0ZxItucg_aem_BRi1Nm35hegYmwDJ2JxI8w
Posted by Socialistinoneroom
18 Comments
I think the continuous assessment model at Steiner schools is much more appropriate.
[Steiner was a great man, and I commend his works, all readily available online, to the interested reader](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/59257/59257-h/59257-h.htm). One may even wish to [experiment with his ‘biodynamics’ in their horticulture](https://barefootfarmer.com/cow-skull-biodynamic-prep/). Some po-faced scientistic types will complain about such things, but they are the ones being unreasonable. If you like the idea of it, do it; agriculture is an art and mode of cultural expression as well as a science.
That said, I approve immensely of the exam, not so much as an assessment tool, in which it has at least modest merit, but an exercise: a method to concentrate learning into a focused point and realise it concretely (consider for example the ‘project’ manner of coursework, and imagine it compressed into one sitting).
Properly arranged, the exam is less an onerous ‘demonstration under pressure’ and more of a fulfilling opportunity to ‘show your best work’. There are practical sides to it, too; most of our lives will be best analogised with ‘continuous assessment’, but some people will be placed in situations which call upon the powers of directed and intense mental effort to a given end in a short time; these the exam will serve in good stead.
I teach at a university level and opt for portfolio delivery over exams for the modules I teach.
A portfolio has many benefits but most importantly it shows consistency, especially if combined with lab work and practical workshops.
Exams can be so finicky and unfair to some students, while honestly over rewarding to others who just have a knack for them but don’t really put any effort in (I was one of those students).
Continuous assessment prepares students for writing a thesis or doing research, and is also more in tune with a real world working environment.
The downside is it takes a hell of a lot longer to mark and provide feedback for. So I imagine it becomes untenable in most secondary schools due to their lack of funds and manpower.
The only thing I saw that makes me think some of these kids may struggle with the exams is that the system apparently lets them retake the modules. You can’t do that in your finals.
My concern is that you can cheat on coursework/essays in a way that you cannot in an exam. As technology develops coursework will become less and less credible.
I went to a Steiner school for ten years but sadly had to leave to teach myself my GCSEs because there wasn’t a formal qualification at the time. I’m glad that’s been fixed as it’s a fantastic system and I wouldn’t have been able to study so independently without it.
The only real flaw is there’s only one state funded steiner school and I wish it was available to more kids across the country.
And once you get there you won’t have any exams either if my son’s current experience is anything to go by. So don’t panic on the exam front.
Do panic however on how expensive it will be: by the time you leave you will be £75k in debt, with a loan compounding at 7.8% per annum from the day you start uni.
Always preferred coursework personally. It’s far too easy to just have a panic attack on the day of the exam, or for your mind to go blank.
Wait until their first exam at uni…they be like…wtf? What do I do?
Thankfully more and more universities are moving away from exams, they don’t test your understanding of the subject or your ability to apply your knowledge to problems they simply test how good you are at memorising information.
I’m a mature student and doing uni a second time.
I’ve only had one exam.
I applied last minute as a mature student to my university.
Not only did I create the best portfolio I could in the final week but I also created a soundscape using multiple sources, reverb, compression etc (BSC Sound Engineer)
When I attended, The tutor didn’t look at my portfolio and only listened to the soundscape when I asked If I could hear it on a well setup and calibrated set of speakers.
Otherwise I would’ve got in on the interview alone.
Halfway through the second year I stopped attending and during the third year I attended the first week or so and stopped again.
I didn’t revise, I did all my work last minute and I passed with the highest grades possible…. This isn’t a brag, I was genuinely shocked and quite dissapointed.
It genuinely appeared that people who barely had an interest and handed every single project in late also left with top grades, Which made me feel like my qualifications were entirely meaningless.
Years down the road I still feel they were totally meaningless but I appriciated the monthly payments to keep me afloat during this time and help start my own studio.
The best day I ever had was when I turned up the day after the halloween party and out of 20 students I was the only person to actually turn up… That day I got to ask whatever question I liked and the session was freeform.
I learnt more in that day than I did over the entire three years… I’ve had three separate educational experiences (High School, College, Uni) and I would say that each one was exceptionally sub par for a multitude of reasons. I’m genuinely concerned about our youth and our education.
I’ve done a BA and an MA. My last ever in person exams were during my A levels in 2019. Neither the BA nor the MA had any in person exams, they were all 7-24 hour long open book, so more like coursework.
It will be a bit of a shock when at some point they have to take an exam.
Given current standards they won’t learn anything of value at college anyway. Just: go on the nonsense antisemetic tankie marches, splash paint somewhere on the building’s exterior, and learn how to climb artifical rock walls and you’ve basically graduated.
I don’t see the issue. Never took an exam outside of GCSE’s and ended up with a first class Russel group degree.
I’m sorry but how is the sample size for this qualification large enough for grade boundaries to reflect the difficulty of the qualification?
People in this comments section praising exclusively coursework don’t realize how critical exams are. If everything is coursework, with the Internet, any moderately intelligent person can achieve as high grades as the very intelligent.
This just devalues university to employers who can no longer trust universities to differentiate candidates, making it even more of a waste of money than it is now.
This causes employers to implement their own testing (which they already are and growing) which is hellish as you feel as though your education was a waste and have to undergo hours of exams for every job.
You are naive if you think coursework is better.