Are you familiar with the game rock, paper, scissors? (Rock beats scissors, paper beats rock, scissors beats paper). I think we need a modern version: COVID-19, education, neoliberalism. Let me explain ... ...continue reading "COVID-19, education, neoliberalism"
Tag: exams
Introducing nano-credentials
We are familiar with micro credentials - things like digital badges. One of the claimed advantages of micro-credentials is that they enable you to assess competences (knowledge, skills and dispositions) that cannot easily be assessed or captured using traditional metrics (e.g. exams, essays). Assessing competences (e.g. leadership; resilience) often involves looking at what people do, looking at their practice, at their ability to apply 'knowledge' in particular contexts. This creates a problem, which nano-credentials will help to overcome. ...continue reading "Introducing nano-credentials"
Characteristics of effective summative assessment
We know that summative assessment drives practice in schools. We also know that current forms of summative assessment inhibit both curriculum and pedagogical innovation because of their focus on 'knowledge' (as viewed in a knowledge based curriculum). The challenge is to find new forms of summative assessment which satisfy the criteria against which they will be judged. Those criteria should include: ...continue reading "Characteristics of effective summative assessment"
Why are exam grades unreliable?
By Dennis Sherwood
In the summer of 2020, the Covid-19 outbreak led to the cancellation in the UK of all school exams. What happened next has been described as a scandal, a disaster, a fiasco, as has been reported extensively elsewhere. In the quest to discover what went wrong, ...continue reading "Why are exam grades unreliable?"
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Traditionally we have told students that if they work hard at school and get good results they can go to university and upon graduation will get a good job.

Such stories are no longer true (I wonder whether they were ever true for many people). Our career pathways are more complex than that. Here's my story - ...continue reading "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
COVID-19 and the future of schooling
Around the world governments are taking action to contain the spread of COVID-19, often in ways that are quite revealing about the purposes and practices of schooling, and the scope to which unchallengeable norms in education can actually be overthrown. ...continue reading "COVID-19 and the future of schooling"
Radical change strategy
In previous posts I have talked about why school is a problem, how people learn and hence how we should teach, what should be learnt in school, and that we need to think more radically about the design of schooling. In this post I suggest a strategy for achieving this sort of 'disruptive innovation'. ...continue reading "Radical change strategy"
Characteristics of effective summative assessment
NOTE - This post has been superseded by a 2nd draft that adds in a criterion about avoiding using the same assessment for multiple purposes.
We know that summative assessment drives practice in schools. We also know that current forms of summative assessment inhibit both curriculum and pedagogical innovation because of their focus on 'knowledge' (as viewed in a knowledge based curriculum). The challenge is to find new forms of summative assessment which satisfy the criteria against which they will be judged. Those criteria should include: ...continue reading "Characteristics of effective summative assessment"
Why is a knowledge based curriculum no longer fit for purpose?
What is a knowledge based curriculum?
I was in a school recently that described itself as having a 'knowledge-based curriculum'. Walking round the school with the head the key elements of this, which seem to be common across most secondary schools that I have visited, were: ...continue reading "Why is a knowledge based curriculum no longer fit for purpose?"