This week we welcome our first author guest onto the podcast, Sammy Wright- how could we not, when he has written a book called 'Exam Nation'! The book has certainly made waves, with reviews in The Guardian and The Times amongst others, and it was Book of the Week on Radio 4 last month.

Once we established that Sammy wasn't attempting to make John and all other exams officers redundant, we entered into a lively discussion about not just the purpose of exams, but also of school. We hear about what Sammy thinks about how we assess what students learn, what he thinks about technology and exams and he tells us what he hopes will come out of the upcoming Curriculum and Assessment Review.

Aside from offering up suggestions to the rather large question of 'what is school for?' the book is full of anecdotes about the minutiae of school life that will appeal to anyone who has been to school, has children at a school, or has a school near them. But it is especially interesting to those of us working in the world of exams and assessment- certainly food for thought!

Sammy Wright is Head of School at a large secondary in Sunderland. He sat on the government's Social Mobility Commission from 2018 to 2021. He has taught for twenty years at schools in Oxfordshire, London and the North East. His debut novel Fit won the Northern Book Prize.

To contact Sammy: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/sammy-wright-a4300a64

To order Exam Nation: https://housmans.com/product/exam-nation-why-our-obsession-with-grades-fails-everyone-and-a-better-way-to-think-about-school/

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