Greens call for overhaul of education system after results fiasco

Ahead of GCSE results later today, the Green Party has warned the recent fiasco over using an algorithm to determine results illustrates the failings of placing too much emphasis on national examinations and league tables over the learning needs of individual children.

The Greens have now called for an overhaul of the education system in order to  tackle the disadvantage and inequality within it and provide further opportunities to learn throughout life.

Green Party education spokesperson Vix Lowthion, who is also a secondary school teacher on the Isle of Wight, said:

The education system needs a complete overhaul to bring it into the 21st century.

The results fiasco is a clear example of how the current system is not fit for purpose. The mere idea of adjusting results by algorithm in order to fit in with league tables shows just how warped the system has become and how little it prioritises the most important aspect, the students.

As teachers we are nurturing the leaders of tomorrow and so we must stop limiting their potential through high stakes testing which creates unnecessary pressure and instead promote a system of continuous assessment to enhance the learning of each individual child. 

The Green Party has issued a five point plan to overhaul the education system and encourage learning for life:

• Trust teachers and take into account regular centre assessed grades at fixed points throughout the course for GCSE and A level
• Reinstate opportunities for coursework and modular assessment, which was removed by Michael Gove’s reforms
• Scrap league tables of exam results, and instead focus on reporting to parents on a mix of academic, practical and cultural achievements and opportunities for students in our schools
• Evaluate the purpose of education, which is not merely to pass exams, but to equip young people with practical and academic skills for the 21st century. Students do not need a curriculum for the office workers of the past, but to become problem solvers of the future
• Support educational opportunities outside of schools including home learning, adult learning and distance learning

Guest post: Our borough has been hit hard by the racist and classist algorithm used by Ofqual to decide students' grades

Just before the Government's screeching, rubber-burning U-turn on A Level results ,Macsen Brown, Brent Green Party Youth Officer and a Brent A Level student sent me this Guest Post:

Results Day in Brent has brought with it a wave of anger and despair similar to that seen across Britain. As an area with particularly high numbers of working-class communities and People of Colour - our borough has been hit hard by the racist and classist algorithm used by Ofqual to decide students' grades. Beyond that we've seen a delay in BTEC results that will impact students wanting to start or resume their courses in the next academic year, universities who are refusing to honour the offers they made to students appealing their grades and to top it all off - cheaper travel for school students in London is in danger of getting cut.

At every face of this issue, the young people of Brent will be amongst those hit hardest by the incompetence and prejudice of the Conservative government. We're more likely to be downgraded, we'll need to pay more if the Zip Card is abolished, and our schools remain fatally underfunded.

This results fiasco has been a toxic combination of the war this government is waging on the public sector and the ideological drive to inject artificial competition into places where it wouldn't naturally be found. Education is a clear example of how the state seeks to create competition to enforce a mean and reactionary vision of society down our throats. By forcing us to comply with rankings, league tables, percentages and ridiculous, manufactured bell curves the Government creates inequality and hierarchy where they simply do not belong. Exams are not a sign of any sort of personal worth, but rather how well an individual takes a test relative to their peers.

This is undeniably a competition, and in my view stands against the spirit of education and learning.