Episode 008: Ban Spellings and Tables Tests

Hangovers are never a positive experience and some are harder to shake than others, especially when it comes to education. We have so many bad (pedagogically speaking) ideas that seem to persist in the system. The crowning glory, of course, is the Leaving Cert, which is a terrible way to judge someone’s educational attainment, yet it persists and, worse, it is staunchly defended as being “fair” and, even, “up there with the best models.” However, there’s other things we keep on doing just because we’ve always done them – the morning news on the blackboard (or whiteboard or whatever colour the board is or will be), homework, religion, and Friday tests. Yes, for some peculiar reason, despite all the evidence that the Friday test in spellings and tables are, at best, completely meaningless, they can be harmful to most types of learners.