A NEW AGE OF ORACY?
In a series of online essays, Jonathan Wheeldon has been exploring the wider implications of AI for all our futures. Here he looks at the future of educational assessment.
AI – the opportunities and the risks
Like so many others, I have recently been exercised by the effect of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on our humanity. Or more specifically (in relation to my most recent experience) on the future of education and how our assessment systems must evolve.
The astonishing acceleration in the usage of large language models (LLMs) through applications such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and DeepSeek has produced seemingly miraculous opportunities for productivity and for learning. It has also triggered unforeseen risks for humanity. This makes the need to rethink educational assessment methods really quite urgent. Governments have been tinkering around the edges of this challenge for many years, but without the political appetite or the confidence to get to the heart of the matter.
Leading with assessment
Meaningful improvements in education will (in my view) only occur when we draw upon the merits of formative and summative assessment in flexible ways to capture the breadth of human potential more holistically. The EPQ is just one example of how this has been happening. We now need to take advantage of the impressive ways that AI can support adaptive learning and assessment.
This can in turn develop the essential lifelong skills of self-directed and self-regulated learning, making human interactions with learners more rich and targeted experiences.
The approach simultaneously embraces the future whilst respecting the Socratic traditions of the past.
The growing importance of oracy
As I explore in more depth on my website (linked below), a number of cultural and technological factors are now ushering in a new age of oracy. A greater focus on applied oracy skills, along with re-imagined ‘viva voce’ oral assessment methods, can play a big part in maintaining the integrity of learning processes. Such changes can also help to build coping mechanisms and resilience against the unintended and often dangerous consequences of generative AI and social media.
We must be pragmatic. In the change-averse sector of education, this kind of reform is no small undertaking. It requires a fundamental rethink of how resources are allocated. Teachers are learners too and we must invest in their continuing professional development in response to the changing landscape of learning. AI presents as many risks as opportunities for evolution in human learning. Some learners will be empowered, but many more may become overdependent on AI. Action research by schools is essential to help us understand what works where, and why. It must be conducted with rigour and be subject to good governance.
‘Rethinking Assessment’ and ‘Voice 21’
The Rethinking Assessment movement has been leading the charge for many years. Its members have many excellent propositions. One of my favourites is the flexibility to assess learners when they are ready, rather than when it suits the system, especially on the fundamentals of literacy, oracy and applied numeracy. This way we can avoid the disgrace of The Forgotten Third and get a much higher percentage of youngsters to meaningful standards of life-skills that give (rather than destroy) self-confidence in their long-term learning potential.
Voice21, the UK’s oracy education charity, has been active on similar themes for over a decade. It works with schools to transform the learning and life chances of young people through talk, and campaigns for oracy to have a higher status in the education system.
Leading change with assessment
Sooner or later the irrelevance and stifling influence of GCSE assessment at 16 will lead to their demise. But reform comes with risks, and consensus is not easy to achieve. There are ideological differences about the content of the curriculum, both within the teaching profession and amongst the much wider population of parents. Even so, if we can establish consensus about getting assessment right, then the competing priorities of the overloaded curriculum (which will always struggle to meet everything that is demanded of it) become much less problematic. Knowledge and skills gaps will always exist, but at least we will have set children up with stronger foundations to adapt, to prioritise and to thrive through lifelong learning.
Right now, younger generations are understandably losing focus and confidence in finding pathways to a happy and fulfilled life. If our education system can help them to take pride in their skills, and to discover sustainable career nutrients that align with their strengths and personalities, there is hope.
Dr Jonathan Wheeldon has had a wide and varied career in business, supporting the expressive arts and education. He has various multi-academy trust (MAT) advisory roles in the UK including Lift Schools, and serves on the Board of Skinners MAT.
An expanded version of a range of his latest ideas about AI can be seen on his new website; https://www.jofftherecord.uk/
FEATURE IMAGE: by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
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Our thanks to: Dr Jonathan (aka Joff) Wheeldon, ‘Rethinking Assessment’ and ‘Voice 21’
