Some children have learnt little since March, others have learnt more than they would have done had they been in school. Understandably, parents and teachers’ unions are calling for some adjustment to public exams in June 2021 to recognise this fact. Most people would agree with me that, if adjustment could be done it should... Continue Reading →

A group of independent and state school teachers have announced that they do not like GCSEs.  I am glad – it is always good to question the way we do things. So we might help them by laying out a few background thoughts. 1) What are GCSEs for? You cannot reform GCSEs without answering this... Continue Reading →

The values, beliefs and customs that make up an organisation’s culture are usually established in response to perceived problems that need addressing. Assumptions are made about how those problems can be solved. Solutions are found, and these form the conditions in which rituals and routines take seed, which in turn shape the way things are... Continue Reading →

How are we doing as a country? This is such an important question – a high level question.  While we flounder around worrying about exam grading we too rarely ask the bigger question – are other countries doing better than us? In September this year the OECD published its Education at a Glance analysis which... Continue Reading →

1) Grades went up. Normally I would comment on the grade distribution but there is little point this year.  Everyone did well because teacher predictions were used. Some pupils were even awarded grades higher than their school prediction. 2) AS-levels are fading out in England. AS-levels still count towards the A-level in Northern Ireland and... Continue Reading →

Has A-level grading been a disaster? Yes for a significant minority of pupils. The Ofqual algorithm did not use centre assessment grades for most pupils, it used historic grades.  Individual pupils who are at the bottom of the rank orders, but are in fact better than their predecessors, have suffered. On the other hand, the... Continue Reading →

Extraordinary Circumstances Demand Extraordinary Measures Many northern hemisphere countries use examinations during the summer months as their main method to recognise and award student achievement. In the UK, statutory qualifications, such as GCSEs, A Levels and Scottish equivalents, have exams during the summer and the grades awarded for these are published on Results Days in... Continue Reading →

We have had the International Baccalaureate, Scottish, English, Northern Irish and Welsh public exam results in a year when no exams were actually sat. There has been general uproar.  What lessons have been learnt? 1) The exams regulators had an impossible job. Ofqual is a great organisation, one of the best in the world of... Continue Reading →

The first edition of the Buckingham Journal of Education is focussed on curriculum. The authors range across its history, design, development, impact  and social implications. The peer reviewed articles traverse a wide range of dimensions and perspectives around the curriculum. Overall, the articles present an eclectic mix of thinkers and their thinking on education. The... Continue Reading →