The Age of Measurement

‘Whereas once we referred to the age of enlightenment, we now live in the age of measurement. There are real worries connected to that about how we expect young people to perceive the world and enjoy it’ 

Tony Little (Headteacher of Eton)

Sitting on the train home the other night I overheard a phone conversation where the person talking said he had to be in work early the next day as he was being audited. This culture of measurement is permeating all aspects of life. It is even affecting our children in their first years. Measuring progress is our yardstick. We have set entry points and we proceed to gauge how well one does from them. It begins quite innocently – how fast before our child crawls, walks and talks in relation to other children but very quickly it pervades everything; learning to read, write and spell. If ones child is not seen to be developing at the expected rate, one begins to worry that maybe there are underlying problems and these worries are magnified in the goldfish bowl of toddler life. Once a child enters education these degrees of measurement increase. I’m not protesting against all forms of assessment or demanding their removal, just that we need to take the implications of how they measure ones development with a pinch of salt. An example of my reasons for this can be seen in the contrasting two statements from the former DES (now the DfE) and the coalition government’s Schools White Paper:

‘At the heart of the educational process lies the child’ 

DES 1967

‘…in the education debate what really matters is how we’re doing compared with our international competitors’ 

Schools White Paper: The Importance of Teaching 2010

Clearly the measurement of the child is seen as more important than the actual child. In a recent conversation, a few friends were discussing how invaluable it is being a parent who works inside the educational institution. We are fortunate to have a better understanding of the external factors that often force the educational agendas. We are then more able to choose what to focus on as parents of children within the school system. Parents who are not privy to such insights are more vulnerable to trusting professionals working within such a quantitative institution.

Measuring pupils and students also means measuring teachers. This in turn leads to the safe delivery of ‘knowledge’ to classes. This means pupils and students are able to recite details when tested, to in turn ensure that individual targets are met and results are maintained, thus ensuring the circle remains unbroken. The threat of salary cuts and implementation of educational austerity has swept through the education sector at a ferocious speed since the coalition came to power and the result is a tightly controlled banking model of education. Friere coined this term (no pun intended) and offers this description:

‘Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorise, and repeat. This is the “banking” concept of education, in which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits’ 

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

In reality the pervasive nature of this approach has quickly resulted in teachers who are frightened to take risks. This is coupled with being managed by a new breed of business minded headteachers who, at worst, have little or no understanding of critical and reflective pedagogy and bang the government drum for rote learning and target driven data. NQT’s and experienced teachers are both offered inset and training where it could be argued that they are encouraged to be conscientious and reflective in their practice but under the current DfE regime we are offered these opportunities in words only as our curriculum, the ebacc and the academies programme all divert these approaches to learning down a dead end street. We are one step behind the United States where:

‘Although we consistently argue for the benefits of critically conscious educators who engage in reflective practice, our accreditation policies, as well as the policies that inform classroom praxis, disallow the successful implementation of a critical pedagogy’ 

Critical Teacher Education and the Politics of Teacher Accreditation 2011

And as a result ‘What is being created is the most personally centralized education system in western Europe since Germany in the 1930s – each school contracted directly to the secretary of state…’ (Richard Pring, Oxford University). We are losing a generation of children to the age of measurement and we need to remain proactive in creating spaces of resistance for their sake and encourage the value in a holistic education that helps nurture the entire child.

To conclude I want to present another example of the dangers that are quietly and pervasively creeping across our education system. It comes again from the United States and it begins to tell a story that should be a call to arms for all educators, parents and anyone who values the powerful service that is the comprehensive education system:

‘America has long been known–despite our problems–as the country of freedom, innovation, and wealth.  There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is our democratic and free public education system.  Prior to NCLB in 2002 and Race to the Top eight years later, standardization was limited to SAT and ACT tests, NAEP and PISA tests, and graduation exams for Advanced Placement courses.  We valued music, art, drama, languages and the humanities just as much as we valued science, math, and English (for the most part). We believed in the well-rounded education.

Now, the Common Core State Standards has one goal: to create common people.  The accompanying standardized tests have one purpose: to create standardized people.  Why? Because the movers and the shakers have a vested interest in it. It’s about money and it’s about making sure all that money stays in one place.

It’s been happening for a few years already. StudentsFirst, ALEC, the Walton and Broad and Gates Foundations, and other lobbying groups have created a false crisis in American education. They want you to believe that America is in sad educational shape so that they can play the hero. However, what they’ve begun is a snowball effect of legislation that devastates public education, teachers, and an already underfunded school system so that they can replace the public system, the unions, and the government employees with private systems that promise to pay less, bust unions, and remove benefits and pensions.’ 

This is How Democracy Ends – An Apology taken from 21^st Century Teacher

I went on the NUT march in London last Wednesday. It is the third time I have been on strike since 2011. I do not want to strike; I want to teach.  However, the silent privatisation agenda of comprehensive schooling in this country is deeply concerning. The little that it is being spoken about is full of encouraging signs but it is not enough. In the United States education is much further down the line of such a neoliberal movement and there are lessons to be learned and the provision of some very good articles evidencing the dangers of such an approach but this may be for another blog.

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