Do you hate or love exams?

From the Guardian, 2014

By a secret teacher

A typical student at my school takes most GCSEs at least a year early, which assures the school of a minimum of two chances to secure a safe pass for each child. The effect is that teaching and learning become secondary to drilling pupils in exam techniques. As a recipe for a year of a child's education, it's a chance to wave goodbye to extended discussion, experimentation in the classroom or the simple pleasure of holding a debate. There's no room for failure or different learning styles; the only thing there's time for is teaching to the exam.

At the same time, I hear the traditionalist inside me asking whether it's necessarily a bad thing. Exams are good. Exams show our children that the world isn't all poster paint and glitter, but rather success requires dedication and practice. It's also undeniable that state school students need to pass exams to succeed. Prospective employers will judge young people on this measure and, as the multiple-entry tactic appears to work in some schools, you certainly can't blame heads for doing what secures the best grades.

The issue is that when students are sitting exams in such a school, passing early doesn't mean they then move on to the Elysian fields (i.e. a perfect place of bliss) of studying a subject for the subject's sake. A pass aged 15 is often considered a simple prelude to a better pass at 16. According to educationalists, they won't achieve as good a result as the one they might have achieved the old-fashioned way but, from the school's point of view, at least it's in the bag.

So, by the time a student arrives in my lessons in year 11, they might have taken the same exam on three prior occasions. What impact does this have on them? Well, they're bored, for a start. "We've done this exam! I know this stuff already." Or, "I'm about to chew my own arm off." Well, you're not the only one I assure you. By the time the dark days of May roll around, it takes every tool in my armoury just to raise their heads from the desk and encourage them to write their names on the next mock exam paper.

Year 10 students are stressed. Rather than being on study leave like the year 11s, who can at least manage their own time, the younger students come straight out of a morning exam and into my lesson. Just as I need them to wind down so we can go over another mock exam question they are climbing the walls, wanting to discuss what they wrote for question two an hour ago or to revise for their afternoon exam paper. Who can blame them?

Stress and boredom aren't the only problems. Almost as frustrating are the issues associated with students having taken the same paper in my subject multiple times before with two or three different teachers. Rather than supporting their learning, my job at this time of year mainly involves "unteaching" or tactfully explaining why the very basic strategies they may have been indoctrinated with to get them pass early are not helping them as they go for higher grades. This process of teaching is confusing and wastes time they could spend learning new skills.

I can see why early-entry exams are tempting for school leadership, but they are removing the joy out of my subject.

What is your opinion on the issue in question?