EduTech around the web

Are children getting dumber? Donald Hirsch &nbsp; 4th June 2009 &nbsp;—&nbsp; Issue 159 While Britain’s annual exam standards row rages on, the most important question is ignored: what should our children learn? <!– –> Discuss this article at First Drafts, Prospect’s blog The familiar sounds of an early English summer are with us once again. Millions of children sit down to Sats, GCSEs, AS-levels, A-levels and a host of lesser exams, and the argument over educational standards starts. Depending on whom you listen to, we should either be letting up on over-examined pupils by abolishing Sats, and even GCSEs, or else making exams far more rigorous. The chorus will reach a crescendo when GCSE and A-level results are published in August. If pass rates rise again, commentators will say that standards are falling because exams are getting easier. If pass rates drop, they will say that standards are falling because children are getting lower marks. Parents like myself try to ignore this and base our judgements on what our children are learning. But it’s not easy given how much education has changed since we were at school. Read more at www.prospectmagazine.co.uk