Labour’s exam reforms make some sense

In an address to 1,500 school and academy trust leaders, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson last week asked schools to stop focusing solely on exam results. She said the government would not have a ‘tunnel vision’ on academic success, but ‘widen our ambition’ to give students a ‘sense of wellbeing and belonging’. On the surface this seems like a worthy sentiment: it is true that too many schools now simply teach to the test at the cost of a more holistic experience, and the GCSE treadmill means that schools inevitably fixate on getting cohorts of 16-year-olds through the eye of a very narrow scholastic needle.

However, criticising schools for ‘chasing a narrow shade of standards’ is a bit like criticising a dog for bringing a ball back after you have told it to play fetch; schools focus on exam results because the education system tells them to do so. From league tables to Ofsted ratings to measures like Progress 8, schools are judged by their ability to deliver academic results.