The annual round of educational exam criticism is imminent. The August result games are about to start. Exam results will be published with positive accolades from parents believing them to be a true measure of our teaching resources. Schools will defend their lot citing improved schooling and learning capacity of children. Yet howls of criticism will emerge from educationalists, employers and the press citing exams are getting easier. Universities will claim children have inadequate preparation for a degree course. It happens every year.
Has teaching become formulaic; primarily designed to pass exams to hit targets as the single measure of performance? Recent claims say examination bodies are keeping GCSE’s easy to appease middle class parents and schools. Casting our educational objectives aside we have diluted schooling into a series of cat and mouse games.
Parents want the kudos of their child achieving positive exam results. Teachers laud the performance against targets as a measure of success. And government ministers boast of a positive educational policy. The problem is the educational journey of children has become a veneer of what is possible. Performing well in school exams and tests masks the lack of educational depth children need to meet the demands of our rapidly evolving world.
Children have immense creativity. Instilled in their very being from its early manifestation in play it serves to develop an enquiring mind to explore the unknown, ask questions, test the given and push the boundaries in learning. But we are critically now letting them down.
It is of little benefit if we only appear to tick all the right boxes. If the educational programme is to work we need children to challenge the “right” answers and explore the “what if” outcome as the true test of their knowledge. James Dyson’s vacuum cleaner products are a true example of questioning the given. Backed by sheer determination he proved after hundreds of prototypes that the idea worked and went on to become the market leader. At the heart of his products lie existing industrial technologies, which through lateral thinking were re- applied into a domestic application with greatly enhanced performance.
Schoolchildren need the grounding and confidence to develop ideas and push boundaries. There is a possibility we’re moving from an industrial manufacturing economy to an age where entrepreneurial spirit will prevail. A greater proportion of children could become self employed in the future. Irrespective of the form this will take care they need a positive foundation in maths and literacy to turn the idea into a business plan, loan application and commercial success.
Napoleon once accused the British of being a nation of shopkeepers. We should take this as a measure of our real strength and opportunity for the future. The shops that survive and thrive are those that provide a unique service that capture a niche market. Not everything has to be a brand new idea. Old ones can be reworked and excel. The branded coffee shops now a common sight on the High Street stem from a concept established hundreds of years ago. The trick is to question how the concept can be updated and introduced into a new market. Simon Woodroffe a serial entrepreneur anglicised the mechanised Japanese sushi bar and turned it into Yo! Sushi.
Our commercial base is changing. We could sit back and bemoan our lot, drawing on state support, or we can grasp the chance to reinvent ourselves. New ideas, reformatting existing ones and testing the given as a review process is emerging. But to capitalise on this, more than ever, we need the next generation to use their skills and depth of education to apply the relevant science, engineering and entrepreneurial spirit. And this is where we are letting both sides down. Fudging exam results has absolutely no benefit apart from puffing the ego of parents and school targets. The easy GCSE is worthless in the world of tomorrow. We will compete with children from overseas with higher educational substance. Foreshortening the education of children will deplete the creativity that is their birthright. Giving them half an education is comparable to training an airline pilot to take off only, hoping they will learn that other important skill en route. If not we are all heading for disaster.
