As Bridget Phillipson seeks to increase testing in schools (again) with a new reading test for 13 year olds, as a way of combatting the problems in literacy among school children, which is clearly a serious issue, I'm reminded of the phrase:
'You don't fatten a pig by weighing it'
What is needed is more investment in schools & staff to enhance the environment in which children learn & to help them discover the joy of learning... more testing just sucks the joy out or education!
'You don't fatten a pig by weighing it'
While I don't disagree that more investment is needed there is another adage:
'You get what you measure'.
This means that given adequate resources and time, effort will be allocated towards what is measured rather than unmeasured tasks. If extra resources are being allocated then unless the outcome is already being measured, having measurement (tests) would have to be part of it.
That may be so... but assuming just testing will be advantageous without taking care of the real crisis in education is misguided, and has been tried before...
Emeritus Prof Christopher May
Chris Brooking