When the GCSE Exam for MFL was reviewed and changed, someone in their wisdom decided to invent something wonderful called "Controlled Assessment".
Designed to move away from Coursework, which was open to "interpretation", Controlled Assessment was supposed to give teachers and pupils more control I suppose, and also take away pressure of the final all or nothing exam (particularly the Speaking Exam). In MFL Controlled Assessment accounts for 60% of the final grade; 30% for writing over 2 pieces and 30% for speaking over 2 pieces.
I have to admit, when I first heard about Controlled Assessment, I thought it was a wonderful idea. I had it clear in my head how I would teach the GCSE and how I would make sure my pupils performed well at their CA...then the complications began...
Pupils were allowed a 40 plan or prompt sheet or...call it what you like, really. Good idea thought I, naïvely. Then it started.
Some exam boards allowed pictures, some didn't.
Some discussed conjugated verbs...were they or weren't they allowed for some they were, for some they weren't.
Then there was the moving of the goal posts half way through the course.
Then there was the changing of job half way through the course, thus changing exam boards and a whole new approach to CA, quite different from what I had imagined.
This is all alongside the poor, almost forgotten about, GCSE pupils who are being subjected to Controlled Assessments and Modular exams every other week of their KS4, stressed out permanently and actually not gaining much in terms of linguistic skill...in languages at any rate. We find ourselved teaching to the test more than ever and what's more, wasting valuable lesson time in the preparation of CA tasks, where we are not allowed to have any input so just supervising while the more diligent pupil prepares but several see it as an opportunity to catch up on the latest gossip.
Over the last few weeks I have been engulfed in the delight that is Controlled Assessment with my Year 11 classes and all I seem to have spent the time doing was apologising! Apologising for not being able to help, apologising for the way the exam is structured, apologising that I'm not prepared to bend the rules, apologising for apologising... I even spent one lesson reading the teachers' guidance for CA out to my Y11 so that they knew I wasn't a big bad (Lang)witch who made up the fact she couldn't help and couldn't correct what they were doing now.
I have heard that there is a plan to go back to the final all or nothing exams and that these Controlled Assessments are on their way out as quickly as they arrived. I have also heard some people (not many) praise CA and others saying that a final exam is the best way forward. I'm not sure I'm the best person to make judgements on how Languages should be tested but I do know that anything is better than what we have now...isn't it?
I don't know if it helps, but you are not alone! I have yet to meet a teacher who has anything good to say about it, including a room full of about 25 subject leaders in Stafford today. It is probably the best ever example of the law of unintended consequences, and has resulted in an exam that is now 60% a test of memory, which some students will almost automatically fail. It has meant that teaching has almost been relegated as colleagues stand by haplessly while students struggle - "Sorry, your piece isn't very good but I can't tell you why" or "Whatever you do, don't practise this presentation outside school - it's against the regulations". The worry is that as the EBacc takes hold, this will be the reality for many of us - facing snarling hormonal adolescents who can't see the point. I don't think I can blame them either! MFL for all, yes, but GCSE MFL for all, Mr Gove, puhleeeeze!
ReplyDelete