Exams can put great pressure on children
With GCSEs set to be replaced by the more traditional, exam-based English Baccalaureate, the survey’s findings are a sharp rebuke to the new exam and schools that focus obsessively on grades.
Two thirds of UK school children said they believe that the pressure to pass exams is stifling their creativity, according to a new survey by the community story-writing website, Movellas.com.
The survey also found that 63 per cent dismissed suggestions education has been ‘dumbed down’ and the same proportion expressed anger at the opinion that exams are now too easy and that education was better "in the good old days".
We need to stop bashing teenagers like they are the new bankers and thinking all they want to do is loiter on facebook all day. It’s doing them a huge disservice
In contrast to the widely held perception that teens are lazy and obsessed with computer games, 63 per cent dismissed the idea that traditional school subjects are too old-fashioned. So no Mickey Mouse subjects please — in fact 58 per cent of school children felt they could be pushed harder at school.
For educators across the country who are grappling with the changes being proposed, there is some good news - despite grumbling on a Monday morning when the alarm goes off, 83 per cent of kids these days enjoy going to school.
Furthermore, 67 per cent of youngsters polled also credited their teachers for being in touch with the kids of today, so while the broader education system itself may be too rigid students are clearly prepared to back their teachers.
Movellas CEO, Per Larsen, said: “Exams and education standards have been in the news a lot lately but the obsessive focus on exam results risks straitjacketing kids’ creativity. With the new Baccalaureate, the Coalition Government, in the minds of school children at least, has taken a major step backwards.
“My hope is that decision-makers will sit up and take note as the message ringing out loud and clear is that the return to exam-only assessment is out-of-tune with today’s school children and will only serve to hamper creativity even more. It’s the digital era but we’re returning to a Dickensian system of education.
“What’s more, the school children of today are far from the lazy ‘nightmare teens’ we read about in the media. What our survey shows is that this generation of school children is switched-on about the education debate and not afraid of hard work.
“We need to stop bashing teenagers like they are the new bankers and thinking all they want to do is loiter on facebook all day. It’s doing them a huge disservice," he said.
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