Years ago, I remember a friend telling me about her first parent evening. Eager to hear about her daughter’s progress, she asked, “So how is she doing?” – “She’s doing fine, exactly as she should be doing,” the teacher replied. My friend left feeling dissatisfied. What she really wanted to know, of course, was how her daughter was doing compared to everyone else. But, over the years, the teacher and her colleagues stood their ground – until SATs came along and gave parents the comparison they wanted, much to the detriment of many children.

Discussions of grades and rankings tend to focus – rightly – on mental health concerns. But ranking also harms learning. Children who are ranked or openly graded (and can therefore compare) care hugely about their perceived relative performance and much less about what they’ve learnt or how they can find out more and grow their learning. Whether it’s grades, house points or stickers, if it can be compared, it will be. And as parents, we often make matters worse by asking, “so how did it go?” meaning “how did you do?” rather than “what did you learn?”. Any comparative grading (e.g. school prizes) or ranking “shifts the focus from learning (what students are doing) to achievement (how well they’re doing it) but also teaches students to regard their peers not as friends or allies but as potential obstacles to their own success,” according to education expert Alfie Kohn.

Contrary to widespread belief, studies have repeatedly shown that grades, prizes, ranking and comparison will end up demotivating learners, particularly those who rank comparatively lower. The resulting inequality in motivation compounds and perpetuates inequalities that children bring to school, be it their domestic circumstances, age or genetic aptitude. Even for those who rank comparatively higher, in the longer term competition creates an extrinsic motivation, displacing any intrinsic interest in, and joy of, learning. Grades tend to promote a more superficial approach to learning, for example encouraging students to prefer less-challenging tasks. They stifle creativity and discourage risk-taking.

Singapore seems to have recognised this and is doing something about it: recently its government announced the abolition of student rankings in school reports. It says it wants to move away from a preoccupation with grades to allow students to rediscover a “joy of learning”, replacing spoon-feeding with more inquiry-led approaches. The question that matters, according to Singapore’s Education Minister, is “What makes your child’s eyes light up?”

We should pay attention; Singapore has long outperformed other countries in educational attainment, alongside Finland, a country that famously rejects ranking, league tables and school inspections.

Competition and comparison in the classroom are toxic, and it’s hard to see any justification for them. As they grow up, our children’s desire to learn, adapt, collaborate and problem-solve will prove infinitely more valuable to them, and to society, than standardised test scores. In the words of Margaret Heffernan, “what we all want for our children [is] a creative, courageous mindset whose capabilities long outlive the short season of exams and tests, that is resilient when making mistakes, ingenious in responding to the world’s changes and generous in working alongside colleagues.” [1]

 

Notes:

(1) Heffernan, Margaret (2014). “A Bigger Prize. Why no one wins unless everyone wins.” Simon & Schuster. London. P.68.