I have my own views about whether or not exams are the best way to assess students. (For the record, I think high-stakes qualifications like ‘A’ Levels should be assessed under exam conditions if possible. )

But I have to say I think it is really insulting to have someone who looks like he has just finished studying for ‘A’ Levels himself telling us why exams are best. I have nothing against Adam — I don’t even know the bloke — but if the Department for Education must waste precious resources on propaganda, at least get someone who looks like they’ve been around the block a few times. Oh, here’s the thing that wound me (and loads of other people) up:

“I think it’s really important that the exams do go ahead because it gives a truer reflection of attainment.”

Science teacher Adam on why exams should take place next year 👇 pic.twitter.com/Lp0OEyLTeK
— Department for Education (@educationgovuk) December 3, 2020

I once got rid of an external agency I’d commissioned to help me run the Key Stage 3 ICT Strategy in a local authority because I didn’t have any internal staff I could call upon to do do it. One of the reasons I didn’t renew the contract was that they kept sending ex-teachers who were about 25 years old to tell people who had been headteachers for longer than they’d been alive what they were doing wrong and how they could improve. I kept receiving irate phone calls and emails from the headteachers, and I didn't’;t blame them. It wasn’t that the heads didn’t want advice — they happily took it from me (even though I’m actually only 25 myself but look older) — they just didn’t like being advised by people who looked the same age as their grandkids.

By the way, you might be interested in Derek Blunt’s views on the exam thing:

Exams and Covid-19: a solution

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Is The computing Curriculum Too Masculine? Revisited 16 years later!

One of the apparently insoluble problems of the age is how do you encourage more girls to take up Computing? I think a lot can be done, and have done so myself, but I wonder how far a lot of the effort fails to get to the heart of the issue, which could be the curriculum itself, the way it is taught, or a combination of the two?