Monday 29 March 2010

I can't vote Conservative

The Tories suggest that kids are over tested and to reduce this they propose scrapping the modular part of A Levels - so a kid can go two years and then fail rather than finding out during early modules and move on to a more suitable path.

They want to introduce a new exam to differentiate between the 3% of people who get 4 A grades (this has already introduced). There are also interviews to help universities select the correct candidates.

They want an American SAT style exam for university entry thus increasing the amount of cramming that occurs and starting a lucrative business in tutoring to teach to a specific exam. (Something they are against). The US market in this area is worth £2.5 billion and has led to tail wagging the dog. The whole system is geared to 1 exam with all the inherent pressure and unfairness that is involved. This is happening at a time when the US are moving away from the system as it produces 1 dimensional students in university.

SAT results would also be comparable and be a stick to beat schools with despite the fact they want to abolish league tables.

This is on top of other policies such as increasing the qualifications needed to train, breaking the pay structure so the best schools can pay more and leaving the worst to get even worse, exam databases (already exist), targeted OFSTED visits having just disbanded the way they judge schools and Troops to Teachers (having just raised the level of qualifications for people wishing to teach).

Illogical.

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