1 minute read
Michael Rosen
More for less
Words by Michael Rosen Illustration by Dan Berry
‘The exams are cancelled!’ the Great Man said, though no one knew what we’d have instead. Commentators scanned the Great Man’s features: did he really mean they would trust the teachers?
Would they accept that teachers really can tell which students struggle, which are doing well? For one brief moment, this seemed the logical route but with the hand of trust, then came the boot.
Schools had to prove their testing was reliable and although their rigour was undeniable, the pressure was on to provide more evidence: exams were replaced by series of ‘assessments’.
While teachers did the setting and marking of these, schools went on paying the exam boards their fees. Teachers who mark exams to top up their pay, discovered it wouldn’t be coming their way.
