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Andy Knowles |
Exam culture failing pupils
Former Hampstead head hits out at
awful ‘pressure’ put on children
A SCHOOL exam culture is failing to raise standards and puts
pupils under immense and unnecessary strain, according to the
former head of Hampstead School.
Andy Knowles, who left the Westbere Road school at the start
of the Easter holidays to take up a new job as assistant director
in the Town Hall new department for children, schools and families,
believes regular tests have no benefit for pupils and can be
detrimental to learning.
The teacher, who taught at the school in West Hampstead for
20 years, told the New Journal: “Children in the UK are
tested more than anywhere else in the world – and the pressure
can be totally appalling. Testing does not improve standards.
It can mean the curriculum gets pushed to one side – and
this a serious problem.”
Mr Knowles, who started in 1986 as a design and technology teacher,
became deputy head in the mid-90s and took over the headship
in 2000, believes a European model of less tests could improve
standards.
He said: “Children on the continent start school later
and there is a more relaxed atmosphere. This does not mean education
is not as demanding – it means learning is geared in a
different way.”
Cheshire-born Mr Knowles qualified as a teacher in 1976 after
training at Goldsmiths College, New Cross. He worked in schools
across London before deciding to have a career break teaching
English as a foreign language in Salonika, northern Greece to
experience a foreign culture – “My pupils learnt much
more English than I learnt Greek” – and then came
home to learn computer programming. But the lure of the classroom
proved too much, and the father of three – his oldest is
14 and at a comprehensive near his home in Pinner, Harrow, while
his youngest is just 12 weeks old – rejoined the profession
in 1986.
Life since his first day in front of the black board has changed
“immeasurably” since Mr Knowles joined the school.
He continued: “In terms of discipline and how it was when
I first started, things have not changed hugely. But other aspects
have. Family circumstances and on the street there is more trouble.
At Hampstead, there are few gang related instances, but gang
culture is something you have to think about every day in school.”
And popular culture also presents unique problems for teachers.
Mr Knowles continued: “Aspects of the music industry, that
is so influential, is distasteful. You have to get pupils to
challenge images they are seeing: images that are derogatory
to women, or homophobic.”
He continued: “Students and their families expect more
from the school.”
But he does not think this is an example of why exam passes
have gone up.
He says the O-levels his generation sat are comparable to today’s
GCSEs.
He added: “They test different things. GCSEs test the application
of knowledge rather than simply remembering facts.”
And now he is ready to see education from an administrative
side – and will watch with interest the effects of the
new education bill. He admits he would not want Hampstead to
opt out of local authority control and become a foundation school,
which the school would be able to do if the new bill becomes
law.
He added: “My life as a head would not have been made easier
if the school was a trust. Camden education authority is supportive.
It may be different in other parts of the country, but our links
and co-operation with other schools and the Town Hall is important.” |
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