With one boy doing A levels and the other doing GCSEs this year, I am all too aware of the pressure on young people these days and it makes me so angry when people talk about dumbing down of standards.  I am a graduate but can honestly say that a lot of what my boys are studying is way over my head, and the fact that they are constantly assessed in school from the age of 7 means that there is this relentless need to perform to certain standards.

I have also noticed that exams are continually retaken in order to improve grades, and I do wonder if this is in the student’s interest or the school’s.  It seems that league tables are the absolute be-all-and-end-all, without there being a focus on a more rounded education, or the social/psychological well-being of the children.

My youngest son brought home a letter from school the other day, asking for our permission to let him resit a science exam as he had only obtained a ‘B’ grade.  Well in my book a ‘B’ is actually fairly good, so we have told him that he does not need to resit unless he feels it is necessary.  He is not intending to do astro-physics as a career, so I feel that it would be better for him to not have this extra pressure.

I strongly believe that testing children regularly from an early age is counterproductive and stifles their natural creativity.  The wonderful Steiner schools have the philosophy that the more children are allowed free rein to play, draw, create and just use their imagine, the better they will learn and also the happier they will be.  Without being forced to learn, they tend to develop a natural curiosity about life which means that, when they are ready, they can soak up learning like a sponge.

To illustrate my point a little more, my eldest son started learning the piano when he was 13 – this was to be a diversion for him, so no grades or exams, no complicated set pieces to learn, just for his amusement.  Without any pressure on him, he has come to love the piano so much over the past five years – and this has been partly due to the enthusiasm of his wonderful teacher, Ken – that he decided he wants to make a career in it, as a jazz pianist.  After having not sat any piano exams at all, he took his Grade 8 last year (as he needed this to get to music college) and passed with flying colours.   It is my firm belief that by letting him do something that he wanted to do, but not forcing him to do exams, has enabled his love of the instrument to emerge.   Obviously, it would be impossible to abolish exams and testing, but I really feel that children would thrive more in an environment where there was less restriction and pressure on them (and also on their teachers).

Maybe you have some comments on this subject.  I would be really pleased to hear from you, so do email me on wendy@wendychalk.co.uk.

Best wishes,
Wendy