How would you reform Secondary education

[CurlewKate]

If you had a free hand? I would get rid of all state selective and faith schools and introduce a new admissions system based on ballots and fair banding. And I would introduce an extensive school transport network. That would be my starting point. I haven't yet worked out the details for children who genuinely can't access mainstream education, but I do think that most can with proper support. Which will, of course, be in place. This needs more thought and input from experts once My Glorious Reign comes into effect.
I would also have rigorous and regular inspections. Free school meals for all. BTecs or some similar system will be given the same weight and value as GCSEs and A Levels.

In maths, exams are the best way to show mastery. Any type of continuous assessment will not show who masters maths. We need to keep maths assessments in place.

I am not from the UK and didn’t grow up with this exam culture, but now I am a lecturer of quantitative methods in a UK university. Maybe my experience is relevant, maybe it’s not.

In my experience, exams are less important for learning than continuous coursework. Continuous coursework incentivises hard work and engagement throughout the module, which is critical for a subject that is highly cumulative. Exams incentivise cramming at the end, by which point it is too late for many students to learn the material.

That being said, maybe secondary students don’t wait to the end to start caring - unlike my students!

While I’m at it, my experience as a university lecturer who did NOT grow up in this country makes me very wary of A-levels. I don’t see how they are useful. They do very little to prepare students for university and teach them to think and work in excessively rigid ways.

My students (A-level maths) mainly study hard the whole year, because they find it tough to get the top grade and we give them regular tests. They obviously study harder just before the exam, but they are working hard the whole year. I think A-level maths is pretty rigorous (though obviously further maths is even more so).

In my opinion what you are describing is far too subjective and open to abuse/distortion. This is particularly applicable to the private sector where there have been cases of giving an inch of discretion and they take a mile. As I said previously, CAGs and TAGs evidence this perfectly. Yes, children will perform differently in exams and different factors will play a part in that but that is just life. They need to be able to deal with pressure in the big bad world in any case so you could say that do or die exams are good preparation for that. I would say that the A-Level system is pretty robust and I cannot see how it represents an over narrow definition of success for an academic child. This degree of objective rigour is necessary for University applications. I believe what is lacking is a robust parallel system for children who are not so academically inclined.

@Pythag sounds like you are teaching a cohort that are both talented and highly motivated in maths if they are focused on top grades in a-levels. Some kids thrive on that bit of pressure and rise to the occasion of an exam…. But many others do not. Poor performance on an exam doesn’t inherently reflect attainment let alone ability to apply concepts in real life / in creative ways.

The linear way maths is taught (streaming high flyers vs low achievers) probably also warrants a rethink. A couple years back I listened to a fantastic interview with a maths professor who had persisted in the field despite being at the bottom of her class throughout university and in the face of active discouragement from professors. She wasn’t naturally gifted at a lot of the standard curriculum, but she ended up being brilliant in a more innovative corner and has contributed significantly to her area. There isn’t one type of maths brain, and I think a lot of people prematurely write themselves off as bad at maths. My own experience was mixed - I was probably middling student in what would have been gcse years, but found a real talent in the last 2-3 years of secondary. Had I been educated in the UK I would never have realised that potential.

like @soundslikeDaffodil I was educated in a different country where we don’t do big end of school exams and we still produce brilliant mathematicians. You might find utility in exams as a teacher, but clearly that is not the only way of evaluating ability.

As someone who was very good at exams, I cannot say that skill was ever useful once I left school. If anything it gave me a false sense of my own abilities outside a strictly academic context, something that I had to actively unlearn in my career. My dyslexic neighbour who left school without any qualifications has done far better at navigating the big bad world than I have.

exams are subject to abuse and distortion as well - it provides the veneer of ‘equal opportunity’ but is anything but. There are countries where exams are not a core feature, and they still manage a rigorous university selection process. Oxbridge do not rely on exams alone in their selection, so clearly at an elite
level exams have their limitations

I’d have things like fun art, clubs with gaming and tv, quizzes, chess, reading for fun be given as much weight as sports so non sporty kids don’t experience so much rejection. Also some art, cookery and business being obligatory for the whole school. More help so troublemakers are dealt with proactively and the root of the problem got to instead of suspending then back in days later

Bollocks.
People learn differently. They always have, always will.

I would improve provision for pupils with SEND in mainstream; resource centres and learning support hubs should be part of every school -well resourced with specialist staff and individualised provision. There should be a degree of fluidity between hub learning and attending classes in the mainstream setting depending on pupil need.

Kids' lives are blighted by feeling rubbish about not being good enough in the current system. A young person should be able to feel OK about not being brilliant at Maths, providing they've been able to access an appropriately differentiated curriculum and have suitable alternatives on offer such as Functional Skills, and for this not to be some 'last resort' option and sign of failure.

Permit pupils to make a broader range of subject selections quite early: follow strengths and interests in order to create experiences of mastery and competence, as opposed to a sense of failure and short-coming. I loved this approach at secondary school in my country of origin ‐we were mostly highly motivated and 'bought in' to our chosen subjects, and not aware of any 'hierarchy' of subjects but learnt to value all learning as equally important as we saw our peers excel and thrive in their chosen subjects, many achieving amazing things whether in Textiles Arts, Mechanics, Geography, Sports Science or Maths.

Cease the reliance on exams to inform and set grades. We had no exams at GCSE age, but were graded on active participation in lessons, course work and smaller tests crafted by our teachers each term. I know, I know ‐how do we know where a school sits in the league tables if we can't look at national test scores? Oh wait, scrap the league tables too.

As for inspections; dial these right down and replace with constructive 'critical friend' style school improvement partnerships instead. These can be amazing!

The good thing about league tables is that they shine a light on which schools are doing a good job of teaching and which aren’t. As a teacher, I believe in accountability of the profession and league tables are a good way of showing which schools help pupils progress and which don’t. This is good for parents too.

The most efficient way of assessing attainment and ability to apply concepts in real life / creative ways in maths is a maths exam. The current mafhs A-level includes questions where creative thinking is required and where application to the real world is required.

All other ways of assessing attainment are subject to much more abuse.

In terms of evaluating ability, while teaching I am doing this constantly with my students, by questioning them during lessons.

Smaller schools. Not just classes, but actual smaller schools. Incorporate different activities into PE. Including walks.

No university offers until after exams results are known.

Other countries have been doing it since before computers were around so it is a doddle. Every student picks their top 10 or 20 courses, the algorithm works out what the grades are per course depending on places and demand, and the highest preference for which they qualify is allocated.

The system we have today dates from the days when only a few schools sent kids to university and we didn’t have the wide access we have today.

Reform the parents. I don’t think there’s much fundamentally wrong with the English school system that better parenting wouldn’t sort out.

Also stop expecting schools to be the social care provider of last resort.

I would keep the faith system but also supplement it with something that allows parents to show they would be a good fit for the school in other ways e.g. commitment to charity work, work in government service etc

I would look to have good school also select on a behaviour score from primary teachers preventing disruptive/bullying kids going to the best secondary schools. Whilst making it easier for primary schools to move on naughty kids.

I would invest in good transport links but only where service buses don't exist.

I'd scrap VAT on private schools and reduce the fees by allowing the current funding each kid gets for state school to follow the child to private if they want.

I'd allow schools to strongly encourage/pester for parent contribution by direct debit instead of the weekly fund raising but that's because I never have cash!!

More portfolio based coursework. It’s absolutely insane that a young person’s entire grade and future rests on one exam on one day. The stress and anxiety is ridiculous too.

I’ve been a teacher and seen super smart kids doing a levels score fewer ucas points than kids who are much less intelligent but are doing Btec which is coursework based. Much less stressful for them too.

I was coming on to say this. But I'm not sure how this could be done. At the moment it feels that often schools are up against very bad behaviour from pupils with no support from parents for the school.

I’d remove any disruptive kids from class and educate them separately, like we used to do.

I disagree with coursework as an evaluation mechanism for the academic subjects as I’ve seen both teachers and parents work the system to their advantage.

I’ve seen the opposite. Clever kids do poorly because they were unwell on the day of the exam or had a bereavement or something. Performance on one single day does not reflect overall knowledge and learning. Yes coursework can be abused but it’s still fairer and easier to cope with than a one-off exam.

Libraries to be compulsory in schools (they are compulsory in UK prisons but not schools!) - well stocked with a healthy budget
Functional skills in English and Maths to be done by all students then the top ones to do GCSE

I would make sure school had plenty of opportunities for fun and friendship. That’s a fundamental keystone for well-being and getting teenagers to buy in to engaging with school in the first place. So lots of trips, ex curriculas, school discos, sports/activity teams, breakfast drop in, homework clubs etc. Help them find their tribe and keep a culture where diversity of ‘tribes’ is celebrated and civic values are fostered.

This needs to be augmented by good SEND support and nurture spaces for those with behavioural issues. All children should have access to chaplaincy and spiritual support.

I would have the whole school and staff doing the daily mile after lunch. Walk, amble, run, chat but moving on legs for 15 minutes.

Parents ultimately responsible for their child’s behaviour and inconvenienced to come and collect them if the child is persistently disruptive. School then allowed to permanently exclude and refuse to have them on site if the child’s behaviour is regularly problematic or parents do not support the school ethos.

Once you’ve got the school operating as a happy community, then the learning can take place. Lots of theories about curriculum and I’m not sure the final decision on content really matters but I would have a total ban on mobile phones in school even at lunch and I would make sure PE offers non-competitive activity and skills. Learners should be encouraged to carry reading material for pleasure - could be a comic or a cookbook but they need something to read if they have a spare moment of down time.

Ultimately my school would be a hub of happy activity, friendships and academic exploration rather than the grim sausage factory of exam results.

Every town to offer a "farm" school by law for kids with sen or high levels Of anxiety

This would
Have small Class Sizes
Animals
Green spaces
Sensory rooms
Gardening alongside formal
Lessons

Breaks would
Be Informal no bells. No uniform Teachers with a good level of training and understanding in SEN and anxiety presentation in kids. In All levels of sen in kids not just high needs.

Rest of the schools - less time worried about shit like uniform. Time attended and
More Time on getting to know kids real skills More lessons that are fun. Drama art music pe computer skills less
Time on languages and
Algebra unless the kids wants to learn it.

This is the triumph of low expectations.

I know, let’s make algebra optional!

This is the best way to stop people from poor backgrounds, or people without motivated parents, becoming engineers.