There is a radical concept in urban design known as shared space. It involves removing kerbs, painted lines, speed limits and street furniture to blur the boundaries between traffic and pedestrians.
The idea is that if you merge the various zones of use in the urban environment people become more aware of other users and more conscientious towards their fellow citizens.
Apparently, it works. Removing all the features that are designed to keep us safe actually makes us safer.
Bear with me. I promise there is a data point to this.
I have previously written about the misguided approaches we take to measuring progress: that we seek to distill learning down to a number, not for the benefit of teaching and learning, but for purposes of accountability and performance management.
Remember levels? We hacked them up into an ill-defined system of sub-levels and points in order to measure progress and satisfy the demands of external agencies. It is no surprise that when levels were removed, we set about recreating them. We needed the numbers to “prove” progress even though we knew deep down that the numbers meant nothing.
These measures have now become part of the common language of assessment and are so integral to the daily running of a school that it’s hard to imagine a world without them. Learning is commonly defined by questionable data, yet we rarely stop to consider its validity or usefulness. After all, we have to measure progress, right?
Temptation to tick the box
One of the reasons for the removal of levels was that they were broad and best-fit, and often resulted in pupils being rushed through content before they were ready. Too many pupils reached the end of end of key stage 2 with significant gaps in their learning despite achieving a secure level 4.
If we are driven by steps, bands and points, there will always be a temptation to tick the box and move the pupil on. This brings me back to the concept of shared space.
Perhaps pupils would make better progress in a world without progress measures. If we remove the street furniture of assessment - the bands, points and expected rates of progress - teachers might be free to concentrate on ensuring that learning is embedded.
We must avoid repeating the past mistakes of shoehorning pupils into meaningless categories and expecting uniform progression through the curriculum. If we concentrate on teaching, progress will take care of itself.
James Pembroke founded Sig+, an independent school data consultancy, after 10 years working with the Learning and Skills Council and local authorities www.sigplus.co.uk
