Exam Nation

Sammy Wright

Exams, grades, league tables, Ofsted reports. All of them miss the point of school and together they are undermining our whole approach to education. What is school for? In theory, it equips young people to become independent and productive, to get jobs and forge lives, perhaps to be 'good citizens'. In reality, it means one thing: exams. By focusing on the grades pupils get in neatly siloed, academic subjects, we end up ranking them and our schools into winners and losers. Some pupils are set on a trajectory to university - the rest are left ill-equipped for the world they actually face. Meanwhile, the 'good' schools become middle-class enclaves and the most disadvantaged lose out. Drawing on his twenty years as a teacher, hundreds of interviews and his experience on the UK Government's Social Mobility Commission, Sammy Wright shows that schools are - and should be - so much more than this.

Author(s): Wright, Sammy
Binding: Paperback
Date of Publication: 07/08/2025
Pagination: 288 pages
Series: N/A
Imprint: Vintage
Published By: Vintage
Book Classification: Educational systems & structures|Central / national / federal government policies|Advice on education|Educational strategies & policy|Schools|Philosophy & theory of education|History of education
Dimensions: 198x130x19
Weight: 216
ISBN13\EAN\SKU: 9781529931464