English Literature GCSE isn’t a compulsory qualification, and the number of pupils taking the qualification has been dropping since 2008. With the current state of the course, you can see why. It’s not that the exam boards set awful texts, or that the subject is dull. It’s that the means of testing are inadequate.
The course is examined in two ways; the controlled assessment accounts for 25%, and the external exams, which account for the remaining 75%. Everyone knows that GCSEs aren’t ‘what they used to be’ and yes, we all know how terribly lucky we are to get a copy of the text in our exam; but, at the moment, the major problems are controlled assessments.
In 2009, all GCSE coursework was replaced by controlled assessments. Conventionally they’re done in lesson time and pupils can, technically, sit as many as they want. However, for English Literature, only one is needed. A pupil should be told the question a week in advance of the submission deadline to allow time to prepare.
My controlled assessment asked me to compare Romeo and Juliet with The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and how Stevenson and Shakespeare present faith as acting upon their main characters. We had studied the tale of star-crossed lovers at a rudimentary level two years earlier; but the constraints of the GCSE syllabus meant that most of us felt we were merely revisiting basic points rather than building knowledge and understanding. The only marvel that had not dimmed was how embarrassed one can be reading the exchanges between Romeo and his sweetheart in the balcony scene.
English Literature GCSE can suck the life out of any text. Instead of examining Stevenson’s whole text, we had to focus on faith as a theme. This would be fine, but it felt as if we were simply being taught the answer. It’s not a criticism of the teaching; it’s a criticism of what teachers are prescribed to teach. Controlled assessments are often focused, which means that we would be stumped if we were asked a question outside of this niche. Total understanding of any text is not necessary if one wants to succeed in a controlled assessment. On the other hand, in the exam, total understanding is pivotal. While both are confined by the unimaginative ‘assessment objectives’, controlled assessments are less about independent thinking, and more regurgitating generic points.
Of course, some argue that simply knowing what to say is merely half the battle, and in fact the structuring of the essay is as important, if not more so. But with a week to prepare, being able to sit with and question a tutor (or a useful relative), it’s all too easy to prepare a ‘draft’. Then it’s just tweaking, memorising and typing the ‘draft’ back out again in the assessment.
Controlled Assessments were introduced to minimise cheating on course work, but they have worsened the situation. And you know it’s bad when the teachers hate it more than you do.
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