Instead of castigating exam board Edexcel over recent incidents - such as students being faced with questions that couldn’t be answered - they should be congratulated for devising a new style of exam better suited to the needs of the real world.
Perhaps further ideas for Edexcel examinations should include examiners refusing to hand over questions; or halfway through students will be told they only have five minutes to complete their papers, or be given an extra set of questions to finish in the same time. One favoured student could even be given the answers.
Such developments would be a refreshing change to the current “spoon-fed” examination system which fails to prepare students for our fast-changing times; our future success will increasingly depend on generating new alternatives to such a system.
“Could this be a turning point in the history of exams?” Discuss.
Andy Green Managing director creativity@work Rydon House 14 St John’s Square St John’s, Wakefield
