Learning is More Than A Test Score

We have become so battered by international comparisons in the last decade that we often are made to feel it is us and the rest of the world: Our system of public education is going to Hell in a hand basket, and theirs are all flourishing. This is not the case in Britain. In fact, they have likely taken the lead in creating a quagmire where too often accountability trumps learning. Our Ronald Reagan and their Margaret Thatcher, who were ideologically joined at the hip, set their respective nations on similar paths with dramatic impacts on their systems of education. Both nations today share the same tensions around the role of high stakes testing and punitive accountability systems.

For a flavor check out this video clip from BBC Online

In October 2006 the most comprehensive independent review of Primary Education in Britain in 40 years was begun under the direction of Robin Alexander, professor of education at Cambridge University. The undertaking involves 70 research consultants in 22 universities. The effort has produced thus far 23 interim reports. In addition to the hard research, they conducted 87 regional meeting around the country and published the results in 2007. Similar to the United States, the press ferrets out the worst findings and the government reacts with hostility.

Last year UNICEF issued a report on the well-being of children in 21 “rich” countries. UK ranked 21st and the nation was stunned. US ranked 20th and it is probably fair to say that the nation yawned, but I’ll save that for a future post. When the listening tour was conducted in Britain and reported on last March there was widespread concern about the pressures placed on children. A Times article was headlined “Pressure of tests ‘mean primary school pupils lose their childhood’”. Robin Alexander delivered a keynote address the day before in which he indicated:

On the basis of our regional community soundings, supported by many of the written submissions to the Review … we have reported a widespread concern that many primary-aged children are under excessive pressure: inside school from an overcrowded curriculum, a high-stakes national testing regime and the back wash of teachers’ anxiety about league tables, inspection and the public and somewhat punitive character of school accountability; outside school from the degrading of children’s values and aspirations by consumerism, the cult of celebrity and pressure to grow up, or indeed adopt the trappings of adolescence, too soon.

Sound familiar? if you look further at even the summaries of reports generated thus far you will see many similarities. We would do well to ask the next administration to engage our nation in a similar dialogue. We might well come to a conclusion similar to Professor Alexander that we, as adults, “may well feel not just anxiety about the society and the world in which today’s children are growing up, but also a degree of guilt about the social and environmental legacy which today’s children have no choice but to inherit. For the carbon footprint of adults is far greater than that of children.”

The Primary Review: Emerging Perspectives on Childhood