Why do we rank?
As human beings, we tend to categorise, label and rank everything around us. In itself this is nothing new, but it can be very problematic to do this everywhere. OBESSU recognises the trend for need of ranking in education. How often have you not as a school student had your grades compared with either your previous ones or the ones of your peers? How often have you seen a list of school students in the order of the result of a performance? Have you ever stumbled over a list of countries ranked in order of how well their educational systems are considered to be?
The question is not about whether we rank or not, because we do, but rather: is it really necessary to rank and why do we keep doing it?Grading is used for comparing results of school students. Grades can be, and in most cases are, ranked. These results can then be used when ranking schools and even educational systems. It seems there is almost an unwritten rule that education today is something that has to be ranked in one way or another before we can start to discuss it, to improve it or to brag and be proud of it. But the issue is also about what we focus on when giving grades. Grades are mainly based on a student’s oral or written presentation, but one also has to take into account that the subjects we have are sometimes outdated and not inclusive for everyone. Therefore grades can end up giving the wrong impression of students’ qualifications.
These problems are why OBESSU wants to bring up the issue of ranking within the campaign on social inclusion in education.
The focus should not be on the outcome
The focus in education should always be on the learning process, not solely on the outcome. The aim of education is to learn, but in the measurements used when comparing and ranking results we only see the outcomes. Not only is this a problem because it gives a distorted picture of what happens and what does not happen in a classroom, but it also teaches the learners that all that counts in the end is how well they perform in tests, not what they learn.
The testing is often based on a narrow set of competences
The problem is not only that we rank, but also the things we base the ranking on. Standardised tests across the globe are often based on very narrow competences, and they rarely leave space for anything else. Young people have the right to develop in areas they like and areas they are good at, not only in areas they are told are the most important. Some skills cannot be measured, and thus they are left out from the ranking.
Ranking makes education a competition
If school students, schools and educational systems strive towards the best results instead of equal quality education for all, we lose the core of education. Education must never become a competition.
There has to be a different way that education can be evaluated and improved other than by rankings. There has to be a way that we can include all the learners and all their competences and full potential, and through that constantly aim to improve education in the right direction. Today however, ranking is what we do and yet rarely question. What do you think: why do we rank?
