Andrew always arrives in class eager. He has read all your materials, plus even more due to personal interest. His hand is always up, and he can explain complex ideas in detail.
But when you put an exam paper in front of him, he freezes. He hardly writes anything. Ordering the backlog of information that he has painstakingly studied seems overwhelming and his grade is usually well below his spoken ability.
Then, you have Anika. She excels in exam technique. She has cracked the mechanics of the paper, so tends to coast through learning the content, safe in the knowledge that she will probably get by with PEE paragraphs and paraphrasing a book review that you are pretty sure she never read. But she has become demotivated in your subject because she doesn’t believe understanding is as important as her capacity to structure repetitive essays.
We have all met students like Andrew and Anika. The current system of exams benefits neither of them. And although this year, exams have been cancelled altogether, we will soon be back to the same old set-up.
But what other options are there?
In the US, there is a growing movement in favour of oral exams, with some schools choosing to integrate a verbal component into assessment of the social sciences. For students like Andrew and Anika, this approach would make much more sense.
Oral exams: what are the advantages?
While I am not suggesting entirely getting rid of essay-based exams, or switching to a system where a huge percentage of a student’s grade for a subject can rest on a single oral exam, I do feel that a balance of verbal and written assessment could be highly beneficial to the UK system for the following reasons:
Subject knowledge matters
Sitting one-on-one for a recorded conversation with a teacher leaves little room for manoeuvre. A student either knows their stuff or they don’t. The level of detail that they choose to apply is a good indicator of their understanding and knowledge. Oral exams allow students the opportunity to really demonstrate their personal interest in the subject matter by throwing in detail from their wider reading or documentaries they may have seen. They can also show off their capacity to debate and form arguments.
Talk can be a leveller for students with SEND
Written exams can put some students with SEND at a disadvantage. Those with dyspraxia, dyslexia or physical disabilities may struggle more with the style of our assessments and have to rely on learning support to take their exams. The introduction of verbal tests could help to make things more equal for these students. Verbal exams assess students’ capacity to assess and apply information, without also testing their handwriting or their ability to write fast.
Less teaching to the test
Is teaching exam technique why you became a teacher? Do you skip to class with all your passion for your subject in the knowledge that today is your chance to share a new exam structure that will be applicable to your students for the grand total of their GCSE before it loses all application in real life? No, me neither. While exam technique and structure are an important part of our job, and teaching students to correctly form documents and essays is a necessity, the extent of focus that we must place on this topic is surely excessive.
Real-life application
However, teaching the verbal communication skills needed for an oral assessment will arguably have far more wide-reaching use beyond the classroom.
There are few jobs that do not require some kind of verbal communication skills. Whether it is in the job interview to get a role in the first place or when negotiating business deals, speaking with patients or motivating teams - knowing how to choose your words well is worth its weight in gold. So, let’s prepare students for the real world with the skills that they need to enter it.
Elizabeth Kitto is a Prevent education officer in East London
