Examining the Examination: why Students Pass or Fail
Exams are increasingly selected as the 'gold standard' in the debate about raising academic standards. Compared to coursework, exams are relative quick and easy to assess. They are also free from the issues of plagiarism and other forms of cheating that have proliferated in coursework. Indeed, my research shows that with the right money ($100) it is now very straightforward to purchase online a plagiarism-proof, first class, or A* Essay. In that context I believe that we will be seeing greater reliance on exams in the future, and more of them will be marked by machines in a move toward improved technological efficiency of the educational production line. Their place in the system is secured. In my view, examination procedures involve a special kind of discipline and they operate as a regime, such as that which we might encounter in a prison. Foucault was not wrong when he linked knowledge and power at an institutional level. And exams are also a theatre of persecuti...