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Exam Nation: Why Our Obsession with Grades Fails Everyone - And a Better Way to Think about School

AUTHOR Wright, Sammy
PUBLISHER Vintage (11/04/2025)
PRODUCT TYPE Paperback (Paperback)

Description
Exams, grades, league tables, Ofsted reports. All of them miss the point of school and together they are undermining our whole approach to education.

'An essential read - as entertaining as it is insightful - for anyone who cares about the way we treat young people' Observer

What is school for? Drawing on his twenty years as a teacher, hundreds of interviews and his experience on the UK Government's Social Mobility Commission, head teacher Sammy Wright exposes the fundamental misconception at the heart of our education system. 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.

Wright's entertaining and hugely important book shows that schools are - and should be - so much more than this. With wisdom and humor, balancing idealism and pragmatism, he sets out what a better way would look like and how we might get there.

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Product Format
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9781529931464
ISBN-10: 1529931460
Binding: Paperback or Softback (Trade Paperback (Us))
Content Language: English
More Product Details
Page Count: 288
Carton Quantity: 52
Weight: 0.81 pound(s)
Country of Origin: GB
Subject Information
BISAC Categories
Education | Philosophy, Theory & Social Aspects
Education | Testing & Measurement
Education | Educational Policy & Reform
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
publisher marketing
Exams, grades, league tables, Ofsted reports. All of them miss the point of school and together they are undermining our whole approach to education.

'An essential read - as entertaining as it is insightful - for anyone who cares about the way we treat young people' Observer

What is school for? Drawing on his twenty years as a teacher, hundreds of interviews and his experience on the UK Government's Social Mobility Commission, head teacher Sammy Wright exposes the fundamental misconception at the heart of our education system. 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.

Wright's entertaining and hugely important book shows that schools are - and should be - so much more than this. With wisdom and humor, balancing idealism and pragmatism, he sets out what a better way would look like and how we might get there.

Show More
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Paperback