Schools have been reduced to “exam factories” by ministers’ obsession with league tables and targets, a National Union of Teachers conference has heard.

“Schools have been reduced almost to factories for producing test and exam scores. But scores are not the product of education in the way that cars, barrels of oil and tins of baked beans are for their industries; schools are there to benefit the children in them.”

“They are a non-negotiable part of school reform. They provide valuable objective evidence in the core subjects, helping inform further improvements to teaching and learning.

I’m not completely against exams. The problem though is that governments are testing for “further improvements”. Can somebody please explain to me how the government ever helps the crappy schools? If money is attached to each student, and each student is equal, funding should not be changing depending on test results. It’s my understanding that the only other reason they produce these statistics is to encourage competition between schools and school choice, despite the fact that most students are stuck to their specific school because of geography and socioeconomic status. Beyond just that, it’s not like the government fires teachers with low class results, nor should they. Testing for national or state-wide scores just serves no particular purpose, in my opinion. I support the decentralisation of schools!

[via the BBC]

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