The Bavarian Parents’ Association calls for the abolition of exes in schools. An idea that should cause cheers among many students. Association leader Martin Löwe refers to a study by the University of Bayreuth, which the educational researcher Ludwig Haag carried out with colleagues from the University of Vienna. The scientists conclude that unannounced performance tests increase students’ anxiety, reduce their enjoyment of learning and weaken their ability to perform. In contrast, announced tests have positive emotional effects and could improve school performance.
Explanation: Exen, i.e. extemporal or impromptu tasks, are unannounced, written tests to test knowledge about the material from one to two school hours and should be completed in a maximum of 20 minutes. The significantly more extensive school assignments or short-time work cover more material, are announced longer in advance and young people have more time to work on them.
The scientists followed 414 middle and high school students from a high school for a school year, collecting emotion-related data and comparing it with the performances that the students had delivered. The result is not surprising: the students felt more joy and less fear before announced tests. Haag and his colleagues are therefore advocating that Bavaria, like many other federal states, only have announced tests written. The study speaks “clearly in favor of giving more weight to the emotions of the students in the education system: Fear is not a good teacher – that’s actually an old insight,” said Haag.
Parents’ association leader Löwe hopes for a change in the testing culture. “Nowhere in the Bavarian school regulations is it stipulated that there must be unannounced performance tests,” said Löwe. Too often an ex is used as a punishment to discipline classes, so these tests need to be abolished.
Unannounced tests can make pedagogical sense, according to the Ministry of Education. “Pupils shouldn’t just be made fit for tests that have been announced,” they should also acquire knowledge over the long term. And every teacher decides how to teach. “The number, type and timing of the performance surveys are otherwise at the pedagogical discretion of the teachers,” says the gymnasium school rules.
Criticism can also be heard from science: the Bayreuth study is empirical, but the number of students was small. This is not the only reason why the Augsburg professor of education Klaus Zierer, empiricist and expert on the effectiveness of education, sees the conclusions critically: The connection between emotions and announcement is illogical. “It’s not linear just because it’s statistically measurable, you have to look at the reasons.” He calls it “trivial” that performance and emotions are better in announced tests. The teacher’s request to write an ex can trigger stress, but that depends on whether students have previously paid attention or repeated the material. Likewise, an ex can trigger positive energy and a desire to prove yourself. For Zierer, too, joy is “very central” as a motor of learning, but he also sees unannounced tests as important feedback for students. In addition, school must prepare for life in a meritocracy. For him, this includes dealing with stressful situations, spontaneous performance and the ability to learn from negative experiences in such a way that they advance one positively.