Very small samples.

I had typed my prejudice in black and white.

"They generalise from very small samples."

I took in its catastrophic irony.

"If you look at the teachers...."


I categorised.

"This idea that my learners will have learnt x is probably based on something...which is probably faulty from the start."

It all sounded (un)convincingly adamant.

Even on the page.

Grid-locked.

"What we need is a grid of criteria", was the refrain.

"Otherwise how can we choose?"

"How can we judge fairly?"

"They are demanding a ranking."

"We have to do this with tight deadlines."

"If we have cross-disciplinary collaboration that will look good."

"If we have a partnership with business that will look good."

What the fuck is grading to do with research?

Grid-locked.

I sat down in the same chairs as the week before.

I set my phone to time.

I chose the first student to start the evaluation.

"Don't worry it won't last long."

"You'll be fine."

"No really, you'll be ok."

How the fuck did I know that?

The candidate (deliberate objectification) fled in panic.

The candidate knew much better than I.

What the fuck is grading  to do with learning?