‘Target grades maketh the child.’ It might be a misquote but certainly nowadays it seems to be one of the labels that make up a child’s identity. I don’t know if I could remember the name of every face I’ve taught but I could probably tell you whether they’re above or below their ‘aspirational’ target grade.
I understand the importance of data and I’m not disputing that figures are important. However, the whole idea of setting attainment targets as summative grades is nonsense. It doesn’t mean anything to kids and I doubt Ofsted want to hear a perfectly able child has been reduced to tears because they are told on every report and in every assessment that they are under-performing. Similarly, churning out mock papers on a weekly basis does not make a child improve. It makes them lose any of the enthusiasm they have in the subject. In short, it is the equivalent of the Bake Off contestants repeating the technical challenge every week without the blanks in the recipe being filled in.
I was lucky enough to be taught by one of the most inspirational English teachers I have ever met – I do my job because of her. The reason why is because she could share her passion of the subject without the shackles of daily data input. I had a content driven curriculum and this is what works for children.
Yesterday, the government published its league tables. Every secondary school in Blackpool is below National Average in both English and Maths attainment and Progress 8 measures. (2016-17 data) This system is not working.
Why?
If we think about it, what do target grades actually suggest to a child? Do they act like an albatross around their neck with ‘potential, potential everywhere but not the time to think’ or do they lure some kids into the idea that the bare minimum is enough? No, they generally make kids feel like failures when they can’t reach the raised targets that schools give them. Sometimes it stops them even trying at all. Then, at the other end of the scale are over ambitious targets or ’aspirational targets’; the targets that make kids recoil into staying in their room and binging on a whole series of Netflix because, ‘what’s the point?’, ‘I’m going to fail anyway’, ‘I’ll never be as good as …….’
Look at successful people – Does Harry Kane aim to score a few goals and perfect the I’m-running-but-really-walking quickly after the ball most of the time? Does Marco Pierre White do the odd fry – up and then demand his constellation of Michelin stars? And more aptly, did JK Rowling think that she’d quickly bash out a story about a wizard and live off the royalties forever? (well, no, she’s definitely miked it but that’s for another blog). Of course those who succeed try to do the best they can AND they know their stuff. The old adage, ‘if at first you don’t succeed…’ is bread and butter to the learning process. Sometimes kids might fall short of the mark, but their own ambitions should never be less than their best – regardless of how their best looks on school league tables.
Blackpool teenagers have one of the highest mental illness rates in the country and ‘young people in Blackpool are much more likely than their peers elsewhere in England to suffer from poor health and be affected by issues such as teenage pregnancy and alcohol and substance abuse.’ (www.gov.uk)
Why?
We don’t claim to have all the answers but incessant testing, pressure and labels are likely to be a contributing factor.
At TCT we understand what disillusioned, disinterested and disenchanted kids look like.
A mentor once said to me, ‘you can’t produce champions but you can produce an environment where becoming champions is inevitable’. That’s what we are trying to do. That’s what children in Blackpool need. That’s why we set up our Social Enterprise.
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