Extract from Forever Learning on practice, reinforcement and revision; plus extract on exams
From Chapter 5
...Shortage of time is a factor in a third weakness in the delivery of formal learning at school, namely the lack of sufficient consolidation of what has been learned. Teachers feel obliged to march through their course content at a rapid pace in order to cover the ground. Too little time is spent consolidating, by means of practice and reinforcement, what has already been learned. Pupils need to understand what they learn, they have to be able to apply it and they have to retain as much of it as possible. Once an aspect of learning has been understood and applied it has to be lodged in the mind so that it becomes accessible in the future. The best way to lodge it securely is through plenty of practice and reinforcement.
Regular practice and reinforcement makes us proficient when we apply our learning and it helps us remember what we learn. This is the case across all subjects. Learning to play a piece of music requires practice as does learning a dance routine. Constant practice is essential for learning a foreign language and regular reinforcement is needed to consolidate learning in science, history and geography. Reading and writing improve with practice and maths needs a great deal of it. Unfortunately there is not enough being done in maths partly because of a lack of time and partly, I suspect, because teachers do not want to be seen giving their pupils reams of exercises to work through – which would not look very enlightened and not be viewed favourably by Ofsted inspectors.
In my view teachers who do not give their pupils plenty of practice are letting them down. Repetition and reinforcement may sometimes be tedious but they are a vital part of learning. Young people need to know that although their learning should be interesting and engaging, as has just been said, it will not be interesting and engaging all the time. There will be occasions when they will need to work hard at tasks which may be repetitive and uninteresting.
Revision is a useful way to consolidate learning and most revision takes place before exams when pupils and students generally knuckle down to ensure they understand and retain the knowledge on which they will be examined. This is useful revision but not as useful as building regular revision into the learning routine, an area of schooling where more needs to be done. Each lesson should begin with pupils revisiting thoroughly what they learned in the previous lesson and in recent lessons. At the beginning of each term and each school year all their learning should be revisited and revised and when transferring to secondary school this should include what was learned in primary school. Regular revision takes up time but, like regular practice, it is necessary to enable learning to be securely lodged.
Mention of revising for exams brings me to the final shortcoming I will identify in the delivery of the curriculum: the overemphasis on grades and exams in our formal system of education. There is no doubt that exams motivate people. Passing an examination or obtaining a high grade is often important in determining a person’s future prospects. It is not surprising, therefore, that many people are motivated to make an extra effort with their studies when they are about to take an exam. However, I believe the overemphasis on GCSE examinations is a serious weakness in our current provision and because it dominates so much of the educational landscape the whole subject will receive attention in a separate chapter. (Chapter 6) Here we will simply focus on the adverse effect that these exams have on how the curriculum is delivered.
Preparing for them and sitting them takes up far too much time especially in Year 11 when no new learning takes place in the last three months of the school year and probably only a small amount takes place in the preceding two months. These five months, plus the time spent on mock exams, represent a significant proportion of a pupil’s secondary schooling which it would be far better to use on other important education including the practical learning experiences just referred to.
A further drawback is having to cover a detailed syllabus in a short period. This can lead to cramming, by which I mean learning too much, too quickly, and not having sufficient time to explore and use newly acquired knowledge so that it is fully understood and absorbed. Moreover, having to acquire vast quantities of knowledge too rapidly tends to take the pleasure out of learning and can dampen enthusiasm for the whole process.
The requirement to complete a prescribed syllabus by a set date also means it is not advisable to spend time deviating from it. With rather less prescription teachers could introduce a small amount of different content if this were felt to be desirable or spend more time on aspects of a subject which captured the imagination of their pupils. In any programme of formal learning the constraints of time and content will usually be present but those imposed by GCSEs seem to be particularly restrictive.
The priority which secondary schools are obliged to give to obtaining good grades at GCSE has created a culture in which it is difficult for young people to find satisfaction in learning for its own sake. Even though they may be interested in the subjects they are studying their aim is to pass exams. They know they need to do this in order to proceed to the next phase of their education and ultimately in order to get a job. It is time, I think, to be doing less cramming for exams and more instilling of a deeper love of learning...
From Chapter 6
...We should bring GCSEs to an end. They are not useful for selecting pupils for future courses and occupations and nor are they useful for preparing pupils for work. They are a time-consuming distraction from fulfilling the many essential purposes of education, they cause too much cramming of knowledge and they do too little to encourage an intrinsic interest in learning. We should constantly remind ourselves that learning history or physics should not be about producing good answers in an exam it should be about understanding and assimilating knowledge that pupils can store away and keep returning to as adults because they find it interesting. The time for rigorous assessment is later when people start work and society needs to know they are competent to do their job.
As well as bringing GCSEs to an end we must reject the notion that innate ability determines whether we will be practical or academic, or even artistic or sporting. Instead we must have the highest expectations for all pupils in all areas of the curriculum and fully absorb the idea that motivation and endeavour will greatly improve their learning whatever this may be.
We should be ensuring that the enthusiasm for learning that pupils have at primary school is retained as they get older and we should be instilling a love of learning that will last a lifetime. What is more, we should be giving young people a body of knowledge and skills that will also last a lifetime and not be forgotten as soon as they have taken their GCSEs. The gifts of a love of learning and an enduring body of knowledge and skills are greater gifts than a collection of grades gained in examinations. They would enable people to find employment, be equipped with essential life skills, take informed and thoughtful decisions about the way they lead their lives, contribute to society and derive fulfilment from everything that learning has to offer.