I made a mistake - I should've said 'continuous assessment' 'stead of 'continual assessment'. The former is a real bind for teachers as it involves scores being awarded to their pupils, based on class tests and projects. Such marks are then taken into account together with a pupil's final written exam score in order to award a final grade. Subject teachers will nave to be too busy imo.

Academic pupils don't need the crap system I have described above. They are able to pass their end-of-term exams without buttressing from continuous assessment marks because of their superior intelligence and retention of knowledge.

this place run by complete idiots, said Herr Doktor.

Those "idiots" follow their nation's traditions to prep for tests, and they gain plenty of trust and make a whole lot of money from locals. Once again, the question of how you'd run an educational institution in China has to be asked. So, let all the readers know what such a well qualified and knowledgeable foreigner as you would do, if he were to educate Chinese reasonably; and, while you ae at it, explain how you would manage your school/center on mainland China.

The UK education system at secondary school level is crap in the same way. To paper over the fact that there are so many young morons studying there, the education authorities have lumbered their subject teachers into doing continual assessments of the pupils, and giving too many tests. At the end of it all, the pupils who do not achieve are awarded 'Foundation' certificates, which employers consider as qualifications that point to pupils as being low achievers. Such pupils have low retention and couldn't remember what they have been taught over a full semester, so they couldn't pass their end-of-term exams. When governments and parents have too much say in how schools are run, we end up with a shambles.

I'm glad I'm out of both the Chinese and the UK education systems as a teacher. However, were I not retired, I'd opt for a Chinese high school, rather than a UK one. Much less stressful to teach in China, but stick to the public schools. Their pupils are more respectful of teachers, and tend to be easier to teach as they are of higher ability than their privately educated counterparts!