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PROGRAMME INFO |
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Every week Nick Ross invites a panel of public figures to discuss an issue of current concern.
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| Testing
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Whether it is for fun in 'Test the Nation', in a pub quiz, or for more serious reasons in SAT tests, GCSEs or A-Levels, we have become "test crazy" in this country. With teachers, pupils and parents complaining at the constant examining of children in school, as well as adults being appraised at work, it is time to ask what we want to discover from testing and whether we test too much.
Listen to this programme.
More fundamentally, why are we so obsessed with that wholly imperfect measure of human ability, the IQ? Shouldn't we be looking more broadly at what humans might achieve by examining what is now being described as EQ or emotional intelligence? In an age of advanced robotics is it not more useful to have people who can think differently and solve problems with more than logic? How can people be valued in new ways that would rid society of the stigma of academic failure?
Commissioners
Sir John Sulston
Former director of the Sanger Centre, Cambridge
Sir John is a leading contributor to the Human Genome Project. He took his PhD at Cambridge, and in 1969 moved to the MRC lab where the DNA structure was first identified. He made his name by being amongst the group who published the gene map of the nematode in 1990. Sir John was then appointed director of the new Sanger Centre in 1992, set up by the Wellcome Trust. The first genome sequence for a complex animal was discovered in 1998, but this groundbreaking discovery was merely a forerunner for Dr Sulston's biggest academic pursuit - the sequencing of the human genome.
Elizabeth Filkin
Former Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
Elizabeth Filkin was appointed in 1998. Her controversial dismissal in 2001 from the house followed a series of critical reports about the behaviour of MPs, from minor criticisms of senior figures such as William Hague and John Prescott to severe criticisms of Peter Mandleson, John Reid, Teresa Gorman and Jeffrey Robinson.
As well as currently carrying out an inquiry on behalf of Greater London Magistrates Courts Authority, she is also a member of the Audit Commission and the regulatory decisions committee of the Financial Services Authority.
Brigid Simmonds
Chair of The Sport England Lottery Panel which distributes lottery awards to sporting projects in England, from grass-roots community projects through to the funding of elite performers.
Brigid became the first woman to sit on the board of a premier league football club when she became non-executive director of Leicester City Football Club. She is a life-long Leicester City supporter and is also chief executive of Business In Sport & Leisure (BISL), an umbrella body representing the interests of over 100 private sector sport and leisure companies. Brigid's background is in marketing, public relations and. Brigid is also a member of the English Sports Council, a co-opted director of the Central Council for Physical Recreation (CCPR) and a director of The Register of Exercise Professionals Limited.
Witnesses
Professor Dylan William
Assistant principle and professor of Educational Assessment at King's College London
Dylan worked as a teacher in London schools for eight years before becoming academic co-ordinator of the Consortium for Assessment and Testing in Schools in 1989. He is now consulted regularly by Government agencies on matters relating to assessment and evaluation. He has recently written papers critiquing the national curriculum assessment system and has conducted research exploring the impact of national curriculum testing upon children.
Paul Strong
Head of William Farr's Comprehensive in Lincolnshire
Geetu Orme
Founder and Managing Director of Ei (UK) Ltd
Geetu set up Ei (UK) in 1999. Her previous positions were in human resources and a variety of training and consultancy roles within the UK and internationally. Geetu has written on Emotional Intelligence and is frequently called on to comment on research on emotional intelligence and is qualified in implementing EQ tests and training.
Chris Woodhead
Former chief inspector of schools (until November 2000)
Chris Woodhead is credited with having brought in some of the most rigorous inspection systems of teachers and schools in the world.
Trevor Bayliss
Inventor of the Wind Up Radio
Trevor's education was disrupted by the Second World War and resulted in him failing his 11+ exam. At 15 he was swimming for Britain and at 16 part-time day release from his job at a Soil Mechanics Laboratory allowed him to study mechanical and structural engineering at a local technical college. He later joined the army as a physical trainer and upon leaving he started his own swimming pool company, researching and designing, as well as appearing as a stuntman on television. In 1991 Trevor saw a programme on Aids in the third world which inspired him to invent the wind up radio, for which he has won major awards.
Go to the latest edition of The Commission
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RELATED LINKS |
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BBC Learning
Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites
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Audio Help
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PREVIOUS PROGRAMMES |
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View a list of previous programmes
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PRESENTER |
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| Nick Ross |
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Nick Ross is one of Britain's best-known factual broadcasters.
He has fronted Crimewatch since its inception in 1984 and has presented a wide sweep of the BBC's journalism in news, including rolling news, current affairs, politics, law, crime and consumer issues.
His credits include several eponymous programmes including Nick Ross, a highly praised series of talk shows (1999), Westminster with Nick Ross (live television coverage of parliament, 1994-1997) for which he was a member of the Downing Street lobby, and in 1997 he was named 'Broadcaster of the Year' for his long-running Radio 4 programme Call Nick Ross (1986-1997).
In 1999 he won a best documentary prize for a controversial and autobiographical TV history of the troubles in Northern Ireland, We Shall Overcome.
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