Brian Boyd and the great big ACfE debacle..
Posted by: mimanifesto on: February 8, 2012
I read Brian Boyd’s recent eloquent defence of a Curriculum for Excellence(ACfE) with great interest (letters, The Herald February 7th). I have to say that I believe ACfE does not go far enough.
In my view, The problem of teaching to the test and death by past-paper which currently exists in our schools will not die the death it deserves until all examinations are abolished at the S4 stage. The new system keeps the exam, in the form of the new national 5, albeit for a smaller percentage of pupils and therefore, the old teaching methods will continue as long as the exam, in whatever format, exists.
What is wrong with a school leaving certificate for all sixteen year olds anyway? Its good enough for Finland, against whom we constantly compare and benchmark our education system. Teachers are best placed to make judgements as to the abilities and efforts, as well as the characters of their students. As in Finland, a school leaving certificate could be a passport to either higher level study, vocational and work-related education and training, or even work itself.
The problem with our education system is not and never was ACfE and it’s introduction, which was underfunded and poorly managed by both the government through Learning and teaching Scotland (who couldn’t have project managed their way out of the front door and should never have been given the job in the first place) and Local Education authorities who siphoned off most of the money rather than giving it to schools where it should have gone in the first place.
Imagine this: if the whole pot of dosh that has been spent so far on ACfE and GLOW had been divi’d up between all the schools, what might they have done with this? Formed their own communities of practice to pool and share resources, networked on line across the country, and taken time out to think and reflect?
No, the real problem with ACfE lies with the almost fanatical insistence on testing and examination in our schools which results in pupils being crammed with facts to remember leading to shallow knowledge retention lasting, in the most part, only as far as the exit door of the exam hall.
In this day and age, most of what we need to know can be found on the Internet with one or two clicks at most. What we really need to be teaching children are the skills to find, evaluate, present, and use the knowledge they need. This will never be done with tests and exams in their current format, whatever name we choose to label them with.
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