When does multiple choice become a no-brainer?
Jono Connor
Monday, March 30, 2009
The annual debate around exam standards is coming round again, so Ofqual have got in first by announcing that some aspects of GCSE Science really do seem to be dumbing down.
One of the questions deemed too easy to ask pupils (GCSE Science Edexcel, 2006) and widely quoted went as follows: Many people observe the stars using A) A telescope B) A microscope C) An X-Ray tube D) A synthesiser. Daily Mail readers from one end of Hampstead to the other got out their apoplexy at the undermining of British values, educational standards, Crufts and the royal family. Then asked each other what the answer was.
Radio 4 was giving Jim Knight, Schools Minister an easier ride than usual on this one. In response to such a serious issue, you would have expected some pretty tough questions. But it was all quite jolly , like a pub quiz.
JK blinked audibly at being let off lightly and then managed to make some quite reasonable points, including the not-so-obvious-to-everyone-out-there reminder that examinations are intended to assess a range of abilities.
What with Ed Balls suggesting that league tables don't tell the full story, you could be forgiven for wondering if the government is beginning to believe that achievement is all relative.
The ability to think on your feet means that (A) your brains are in your legs (B) it's time we went metric (C) you've done Radio 4 before (D) you drive a Range Rover
