{"id":3676,"date":"2018-12-12T20:01:21","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T20:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mint.10yearsafterthecrash.com\/?p=3676"},"modified":"2019-07-14T08:23:33","modified_gmt":"2019-07-14T08:23:33","slug":"disruptive-influences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/disruptive-influences\/","title":{"rendered":"Disruptive influences"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u201cWe input pluralist economics perspectives\u00a0and now it is designing a space craft to leave earth.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Teaching isn\u2019t what is used to be. Exams need to be the same. Nigella Vigoroso-Heck looks at the options.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Disruption is everywhere.\u00a0 The traditional processes of industry are falling away and news stories abound with warnings that robots are about to take our jobs.\u00a0 As a teacher, I am continually told that I am preparing students for a world in which their future jobs don\u2019t even exist yet.<\/p>\n

And yet, as a teacher, I also seem to be part of society that arrogantly assumes it is above automation; that there simply isn\u2019t a viable replacement for a human teacher.<\/p>\n

But education has already been disrupted.<\/p>\n

The information you need to pass an exam is no longer contained between the shoulders of your teacher, it is found on many different media platforms. Read the ebook.\u00a0 Don\u2019t like the ebook?\u00a0 Read the bitesize revision cards.\u00a0 Don\u2019t want the cards?\u00a0 Watch the Youtube videos.\u00a0 Or listen to the podcast.\u00a0 Test yourself on a multiple-choice quiz app.\u00a0 Get your assignments graded online \u2026 the list is endless.<\/p>\n

“Anyone can be a student now. More importantly though, anyone can be a teacher.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The provision of educational resources has grown exponentially and anyone can be a student now.\u00a0 More importantly though, anyone can be a teacher.<\/p>\n

From a pluralist economics point of view, we should be happy about the impact of disruption on our subject.\u00a0 Economic theory isn\u2019t meant to be homogeneous; it\u2019s not meant to be the same.\u00a0Some resources will emphasise the efficiency of market systems above all else while others will focus on other areas. Some will critique the market system, some will try to unpick the bowl of spaghetti that is macroeconomics and some may try their hand at development economics. It is a fabulous example of highly competitive monopolistic competition: the product is differentiated, catering for the needs of different niche markets.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of a course, the plethora of available resources can be daunting to a newbie student.\u00a0 But kids these days are resourceful (read this column in the previous edition) and they soon find their way \u2013 the most popular choices being multi-platform resources like Econplusdal, Tutor2u or OxfordBusinessTutor.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, our students of economics win.\u00a0 They aren\u2019t fixed to one school of economic thought anymore but they are exposed to many different points of view.<\/p>\n

“Ultimately, our students of economics win. They aren\u2019t fixed to one school of economic thought anymore”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The next industry to be disrupted will inevitably be the exam boards; they simplyhaven\u2019t moved with the rest of education. 2015 heralded a new system of A-Levels (which was remarkably like the old system).\u00a0 The former education minister, Michael Gove, wanted a system that essentially replicated his own university experience: no modules just \u201cfinals\u201d at the end.\u00a0 He asked the exam boards tostretch the most able students, prepare their candidates better for the demands of employment and to get away from the idea of teaching to test.<\/p>\n

The economic exam boards have failed his test.<\/p>\n

The exam boards cannot replicate the university finals experience.\u00a0Academics have but a few dozen exam papers to mark at the end the year. England\u2019s two largest exam boards (Edexcel and AQA) have tens of thousands.<\/p>\n

“2015 heralded a new system of A-Levels (which was remarkably like the old system).”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At university it\u2019s easy to get the impression that the only criterion for grading a paper is: \u201cdo I like this essay?\u201d When you have tens of thousands of students demanding consistency of marking across the cohort, the \u201cdo I like this essay?\u201d criterion is bankrupt. The marking scheme, therefore, inevitably becomes more rigid and, at that scale, it ends up squeezing out reward for flair and original thinking.<\/p>\n

Economics essays, apparently, must be three \u201canalysis\u201d paragraphs followed by three \u201cevaluative\u201d paragraphs, where even the very nature of evaluation or the \u201cacceptable forms of evaluation,\u201d have been defined in a booklet.<\/p>\n

Education should be more than this.<\/p>\n

At university it\u2019s easy to get the impression that the only criterion for grading a paper is: \u201cdo I like this essay?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The mass-market exam board approach has narrowed the focus of the classroom experience and it stunts our students\u2019 creative development just before they\u2019re meant to go to university and blossom.\u00a0 The industry is ripe for disruption. Who will take on the mantle and start-up a new qualification \u2013 one for pluralist economics that recognises intellectual curiosity and breadth of understanding?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u201cWe input pluralist economics perspectives\u00a0and now it is designing a space craft to leave earth.\u201d Teaching isn\u2019t what is used to be. Exams need to be the same. Nigella Vigoroso-Heck … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,103,45],"tags":[341,110,322,132],"class_list":["post-3676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-education","category-uk-ireland","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-confessions","tag-dec-2018","tag-economics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}