The Transient and the Timeless: Surviving a lifetime of policy and practice in assessment
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Abstract
A personal retrospective
1960s
In1959 I half-passed my 11+ and went to a technical school in Kent. In 1964 I took O levels and in 1966, A levels in metalwork and technical drawing. These examinations were unimaginatively constructed –
amounting to tests of theoretical knowledge (theory paper) and practical skills (the practical). I was good at them.
During and after the war, my teachers had been responsible for setting up production lines in the school – manufacturing parts for the ships being maintained in Chatham dockyard. They knew about precision, we had lots of practice and we ended up pretty capable draughtsmen/craftsmen (it was of course a boys school).
I went to Goldsmiths to train as a handicraft teacher, and I was seriously shaken up to discover designing. I was used to being given engineering drawings of tool clamps and drilling jigs that I just had to make. Designing things for myself was a revelation. I did not at first enjoy it. I wanted just to revel in my skills that were better than the norm in the first year group because of the experience and
facilities to which I had been used at school.
1960s
In1959 I half-passed my 11+ and went to a technical school in Kent. In 1964 I took O levels and in 1966, A levels in metalwork and technical drawing. These examinations were unimaginatively constructed –
amounting to tests of theoretical knowledge (theory paper) and practical skills (the practical). I was good at them.
During and after the war, my teachers had been responsible for setting up production lines in the school – manufacturing parts for the ships being maintained in Chatham dockyard. They knew about precision, we had lots of practice and we ended up pretty capable draughtsmen/craftsmen (it was of course a boys school).
I went to Goldsmiths to train as a handicraft teacher, and I was seriously shaken up to discover designing. I was used to being given engineering drawings of tool clamps and drilling jigs that I just had to make. Designing things for myself was a revelation. I did not at first enjoy it. I wanted just to revel in my skills that were better than the norm in the first year group because of the experience and
facilities to which I had been used at school.
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How to Cite
KIMBELL, Richard.
The Transient and the Timeless: Surviving a lifetime of policy and practice in assessment.
Design and Technology Education: an International Journal, [S.l.], v. 15, n. 3, oct. 2010.
ISSN 1360-1431.
Available at: <https://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/DATE/article/view/1535>. Date accessed: 26 mar. 2023.
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