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Ban exam 'abuse' says teacher

Delegates to the Professional Association of Teachers annual conference in Southport heard claims that exams did not properly measure children's achievements and should be replaced with more continuous assessment, valuing practical achievement as highly as purely academic success.

A Halifax teacher, Rosemary Wright, proposed that the conference view exams as "another form of child abuse".

The motion was defeated by a large margin but she was not alone in wanting to raise the issue of the stress imposed on many children.

'Sadism'

"If a teacher inflicted such sadism on a pupil that the child needed to phone the Samaritans as a result of it ... the teacher would be out of a job," she said.

"What do exams prove? That a candidate has a reasonable memory.

"If children do well, it means they are confident and healthy. If they do badly, maybe they're scared stiff or simply affected by a high pollen count.

"Surely other means of assessment are more humane and give more indication of the qualities of the candidate."

Another delegate, Wesley Paxton, won wide support for a somewhat tongue-in-cheek proposal that "there should be selection at 12+ based on mechanical aptitude and manual dexterity, with those who fail being consigned to the academic stream."

'High pressure'

Mr Paxton complained about the relative lack of recognition for vocational qualifications. He said some people liked exams but others were "damaged" to the point of nervous breakdown.

Philip Parkin from Humberside said there was an "obsession" with tests that was "stifling creativity and depriving children of their right to their childhood".

"It's not very easy being a child in these high pressure times," he said.

"We should be worried as a society if children feel that exam pressure is so great that children have to commit suicide.

"School life has become one big test frightening children. The desire to raise standards has become an obsessive drive to improve exams and grades.

"There are 36,000 primary school children who will shortly be embarking on literacy and numeracy summer schools. Perhaps some of us believe they should be having holidays instead."

Doubts about assessment

Other delegates doubted whether continuous assessment was a viable alternative, however.

Barry Matthews, a member of the union's ruling council, said: "I know exams can be stressful and I think continuous assessment has a part to play. But there are times when a child has to be tested under exam conditions."

And a retired headteacher from Stockport, Vivienne Hayward, said: "I'm very worried about continuous assessment replacing exams.

"How do we know if the child has done all the work and hasn't had a great deal of help from their parents?"

The association is the smallest of the education unions in Britain, with some 35,000 members including teachers, headteachers and lecturers.

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