Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 20/08/2026I think the idea that the UK's current schooling system is really excellent and that its exams-driven testing model is 'rigorous' is a perfect example of a country eagerly marking its own homework, using criteria it made up for itself. 1630259
Duncan Gill @duncangill.bsky.social · 20/08/2026Schooling systems, plural. And the media in Scotland is definitely not pumping out a message that the system here is excellent. 250
James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 20/08/2026The idea that the current system lets cohorts of students down and that exams are unfair is equally unsubstantiated, of course. 100
Steve Smith @spsmith45.bsky.social · 21/08/2026Devil’s advocate - How would you explain the PISA and TIMMS data? The DfE doesn’t mark their own work in that case. 200
Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 20/08/2026Teach to the test was already understood to be a massive problem in national education systems in, like, the 80s. That's forty years ago. Making those tests nationally standardised and having admission to every structure after them determined by them is not, in fact, the solution. 815314
Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 20/08/2026The rigor of the system is based around school performance measures. With high stakes competition supposedly driving up standards. The role of exams in school performance measures has overtaken its role as a qualification for pupils and the impact on the experience of education. 2100
Niche @mr-n-wood.bsky.social · 20/08/2026bsky.app/profile/mr-n...Niche@mr-n-wood.bsky.socialMy position on this is that given current constraints, the system is good but could be improved a little. To improve the system more significantly would take resources that there isn't a political will to reassign. 000
Dominic 🇪🇺 🏳️🌈 🇺🇦 @theriotnrrd.eurosky.social · 20/08/2026I went to high school in Italy and then to university in the UK, and let us just say that the results of the current UK system do not speak well for its effectiveness. 000
Brian Probert @brianhprobert.bsky.social · 20/08/2026I'm not clear what you think is the downside of external exams 000
Nick @nicko66.bsky.social · 20/08/2026Having just recently emerged from the schooling system with two kids, I wholeheartedly agree. The entire thing is designed to disempower teachers and encourage robotic regurgitation to a formula. English GCSE is especially bad. 090
Leonie V. Hicks @lvhicks.bsky.social · 20/08/2026Education is devolved in the UK. We have several systems, several assessment diets, multiple options for assessments, etc. I am really not at all sure what you are trying to argue or propose. 100
South Wales Record Society @swalesrecordsoc.bsky.social · 20/08/2026But same problems in Wales. I used to get students who admitted they had been drilled in exactly what to say to demonstrate independence of thought. 070
Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 21/08/2026Yes, it is a difficult situation. I would say the worst thing to happen to the English education system, (apart from Gove and OFSTED), was academisation. As a teacher, we spend more time trying to fit in a model that ‘worked in other schools in other places’ than what works for us and our pupils. 040
Laurie Dunkin Wedd @ldw1.bsky.social · 21/08/2026Not entirely. worldpopulationreview.com/country-rank...worldpopulationreview.comEducation Rankings by Country 2026Denmark ranks #1 for education quality in 2026. 000
