And yet – is that the very issue that we are uneasy about? Some of our disquiet these days is to do with AI and how it fits in to the ‘system’, but that’s only part of it. Exam grades show much less about who we are than what we know. But when it comes to matching up a young person to a course in higher education, isn’t that just as important? Understanding personal qualities and dispositions, it could be argued, is a much better guide than grades when it comes to choosing a course or to train as a vet, a doctor or an accountant.
This month we look at assessment and the case for change.
Steffen Sommer is more than uneasy – he thinks the way we assess and what we assess is completely out of joint. The situation is becoming worse almost by the minute as we allow young people to disappear into the worlds that they are creating for themselves, but not offering them ways to show who they are and what they can do in a way that is both relevant to them and useful to the universities that they wish to enter or the employers who would like to offer them a job.
There are other concerns. Sneha Chakravarty and Anveshna Srivastava draw attention to the issue of AI and the dangers of ‘cognitive debt’, while Alexandra Dragomirescu wants us to rethink lesson planning by adapting to the world that learners actually inhabit. There’s a lot to think about, but perhaps assessment is where discussion needs to focus as Steffen Sommer suggests, if we are serious about wanting more general change.
All best wishes from the International Teacher Magazine team for a happy and productive year!