Today I’ve put my pupils through the Trinity GESE exam. Well, to be more precise I’ve cajoled, tugged, dragged, and carried my pupils through it.
The idea of this oral exam scheme is that you put your pupils in at the relevant level, between 1 to 12, and they pass the exam, flying colours being optional.
The other option is they fail.
It’s a big toss up between putting them in at an easy peasy level they could pass with their tongue tied behind their back or take a risk.
Some of them failed today. I’m quietly smug but perfectly honest when I say they hadn’t prepared at all, and all those who worked for it passed, often with very good grades.
Should I have put those pupils in at a lower level? Should I have done their coursework prep for them?
Or have they learnt a useful lesson today?
One pupil ( who passed with an A of course) came to see me in a state of damp panic yesterday to ask “what will happen if I fail?”
I was tempted to reply “ you’ll self-combust/ the examiner will kick you up the bum as you leave the room/ we’ll line you up against the wall for a dawn execution” but I managed to button it, twenty years’ experience has enabled me to do that, occasionally.
I did however ask her back, “ what WILL happen if you fail?” She hasn’t answered yet, although she does seem to represent a current ideology. I’m not suggesting we bring back the dunce cap, but do we protect our children from failure too much and is iit really helping them in the long term?
The NY Times have an interesting article on the subject.
Now it’s your turn to answer, what will happen if we fail?
