Laura McInerney is right to point out the injustices of the current A-level remarking arrangements, but wrong in revealing them as “marking’s dirty little secret”, as if they haven’t been recognised before (Education, August 16). The elephant in the room as far as all examination and testing are concerned is a fact that no one is really prepared to acknowledge. We have no firm, reliable, systematic way of assessing pupils’ understanding. The way they develop that understanding is fearsomely complex, often idiosyncratic and far from fully or even adequately understood, even after a century or more of psychological research. Our test and examination instruments are crude, partial and far from authoritative.
We have believed the myth of assessment and have failed to acknowledge the extent of our ignorance. At best the most we can claim is an intuitive, very partial and inevitably subjective form of assessment borne out of working closely with pupils – talking with and observing them on a day-to-day basis in class. That is all. That reflects the complexity of learning, the idiosyncratic nature of young learners and the limited extent of our knowledge. This may be uncomfortable, but it’s the reality. We, the government, parents and learners themselves need to recognise it.
Professor Colin Richards
Spark Bridge, Cumbria
• In my day, the late 1960s and the 1970s, the university clearing system allocated courses and places a ridiculously short time before academic terms started. (“I wanted to go to Birmingham but I ended up in Crewe!”) As all fees were paid and grants were readily available, the system was acceptable.
Today, students – who are now paying customers – still don’t know where they are going to university (Clearing 2016, 18 August). My daughter and some friends have just returned from an Interrail trip in Europe. The non-British students they met were incredulous that they did not know what university they were going to just weeks before this major life-changing event. Is there anybody in the higher education world who can come up with a more sensible, less stressful system of placing youngsters with the university of their choice? How about A-levels in December, results in early February, then campus tours armed with knowledge. Student and university shake hands by the end of April at latest.
Michael Harrington
Brentford, Middlesex
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
