Leeds Education Conference video: Expert hits at ‘toxic’ exam system

Prof Mick Waters said reliance on league table results and inspection reports lead to schools thinking of young people as “currency” based on the number of GCSEs they could achieve.

The president of the North of England Education Conference, which started in Leeds yesterday, also criticised the Government for talking about increasing freedoms while imposing more central controls.

In his opening address Prof Waters told delegates the “door to examination scrutiny is now ajar”, following recent undercover filming of exam board staff briefing teachers on exam content.

“You’ll have seen the footage,” he said. “What that light falls upon might still be the gold standard but it is slightly tarnished because there’s something toxic in the air inside that room.

“The high stakes testing regime that drives diligent and professional teachers and examiners creates a toxicity in the system that leads many young people towards a lacklustre, rather than a golden learning experience as they move towards the achievement of their own school’s targets.”

Prof Waters warned that data from exams and inspection results, which he claimed could often be suspect, was now the driving force for change in education.

He said that politicians’ need to deliver improved results was putting pressure on heads to “push the boundaries”.

Ministers who enact changes needed to be able to measure improvements in results to “reassure the electorate that they were doing the right thing.”

He also questioned whether the coalition’s education reforms were delivering greater freedoms for schools.

Ministers are urging schools to opt out of local education authority control to become autonomous centrally-funded academies with greater freedoms over their finances, curriculum, staff terms and conditions and admissions. However Prof Waters said the Government was moving toward more central control.

He questioned whether steps such as the creation of the new English Baccalaureate, a performance measure introduced to GCSE league tables last year, would give schools more freedom.

The baccalaureate is awarded to students who achieve at least six good passes in subjects comprising English, maths, two sciences, a modern language and either history or geography. “Michael Gove talks about freedom...is the English Baccalaureate freedom making? Does being told to teach phonics feel like freedom?”

Prof Waters predicted the baccalaureate would have a massive impact as schools prioritised the subjects the Government has given greater weight to.

He also told delegates that raising aspirations should not just be about higher grades. “It’s more than levels, more than qualifications.

“It’s more than a career outcome. It’s actually about aspirations to work, aspirations to contribute and aspirations of the spirit of our young people”, he said.

The conference being held at the Royal Armouries is a three-day event which is attracting speakers from education, politics, sport and media.

Today Shadow Education Secretary Stephen Twigg will unveil Labour plans for a “School to Work” review to be carried out by former Children’s Services Select Committee chairman and Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman.

Mr Twigg will tell delegates state schools need to be better at developing young people’s soft skills – including interview technique and producing CVs – to match the success of private schools.

He will also promote partnerships between schools and businesses and will suggest longer school hours to better prepare pupils for working life.