GOOD reading.
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The Star Online 27JUL10 - Education
Review system first
By DR. RANJIT SINGH MALHI
I VIEW with concern the rationale and assertions propounded by the Education
Ministry and other stakeholders regarding the proposal to abolish the Ujian
Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR)
examinations.
Most shocking was the assertion that “the teaching and learning methods will
remain the same”.
We are definitely barking up the wrong tree! Scrapping the two public
examinations and maintaining the existing teaching and learning methods are
definitely not the panacea to what ails our education system or the long-lasting
solutions for creating a more holistic education.
Let’s be “brutally” honest. The products of our school system are generally
ill-prepared either for higher education, work or life in general.
Most of our undergraduates are not goal-orientated, have poor analytical and
writing skills, fear public speaking, and have been “conditioned” by our
schooling system to be spoon-fed.
Employers continually complain that our secondary school students and graduates
lack self-confidence, communication skills, a strong work ethic, interpersonal
skills, and are poor team players.
It is not the two public examinations that are at fault. It is the “what” and
“how” of our examinations (assessment) that need a major overhaul together with
our instructional strategies (besides having truly competent teachers and
effective academic leadership).
The questions in UPSR and PMR focus on lower-order thinking (recall of factual
knowledge) which, consequently, fosters rote learning in schools.
This is not surprising because assessment drives learning; it is the nature of
the assessment tasks that primarily influences students’ orientation to
learning.
Hence, teachers focus on preparing students for exams, instead of preparing them
for life and the workplace.
Our educational system (including tertiary education) generally promotes surface
and passive learning instead of deep and active learning which are crucial for
creating a quality learning environment.
My interaction with teachers over the last decade reveal that the vast majority
of them have no clear understanding of critical thinking.
Hence, it is not surprising that teachers seldom pose higher-order questions to
students.
The ministry needs to review the current assessment system in schools in the
context of systemic change, and not as a piecemeal approach. The pertinent
questions that the ministry should be ruminating on are as follows:
● Do we have explicit desired learning outcomes for our schools?
● Do current instructional strategies and assessment methods promote quality
learning and holistic development of students?
● Do schools promote self-directed, independent and lifelong learning?
● Do schools provide adequate formative assessment to bring out the best in
learners?
● Do schools promote deep learning and active learning?
● Do our schools have high-quality teachers and school leaders?
● Is there a constructive alignment between learning outcomes, teaching and
learning activities, and the assessment tasks?
It may be wise for the ministry to first begin with the end in mind by
determining explicitly the desired learning outcomes.
Learning outcomes are specific statements describing what students should know,
understand or be able to do, as a result of learning.
In this regard, I would like to propose that schools should help students to be
goal-orientated with high self-esteem and resilience; strong and persuasive
communication skills (both oral and written); problem-solving and
critical-thinking skills; interpersonal skills and teamwork; emotional
intelligence; ethics/citizenship; information literacy; and lifelong learning
skills.
Second, we need to review the existing curriculum. The ministry should explore
the possibility of reducing the number of core subjects and eliminating
unimportant content. The trend worldwide is to reduce disciplinary content to
the core essentials and to focus on student understanding and application of
core knowledge based upon the famous mantra propounded by Professor Howard
Gardner, “In a lecture, less is more.”
Third, the ministry needs to ensure that teachers are competent enough to
utilise appropriate teaching and learning strategies that will contribute
towards attaining the intended learning outcomes.
Teachers need to focus more on active learning (role plays, dramas,
brainstorming, debates, case studies, reflective journals) and cooperative
learning (group presentations, problem solving in teams) which foster critical
thinking, teamwork and interpersonal skills.
Fourth, we must ensure that schools provide adequate formative assessment
(assessment for learning). Students need frequent feedback that emphasises
continuous learning and self-evaluative reflection. We should also promote
authentic learning in our schools where learners are given adequate
opportunities to actively apply what they know to meaningful, real-life tasks.
Fifth, we need to develop a good and varied system of assessment (including
student projects, performance tasks and student portfolios) that measure a broad
range of student abilities (e.g. critical thinking, effective communication,
teamwork) besides core disciplinary knowledge, attitudes and values. In this
regard, the ministry can determine an appropriate mix of school-based and
nationwide assessments (public exams).
Student projects, student portfolios, product assessment (e.g. written essays,
paintings or posters), assessment of personal qualities and performance
assessments (e.g. oral presentation, teamwork) are best administered at the
school level with explicit guidelines and scoring criteria (perhaps including
monitoring) formulated by the ministry to ensure some semblance of uniformity
among schools.
Sixth, both the ministry and schools must ensure that there is a constructive
alignment between learning outcomes, teaching and learning activities, and the
assessment tasks.
Seventh, the core business of schools is to promote quality teaching and
learning which is dependent on having truly competent and dedicated teachers.
The million dollar question here is whether the ministry is hiring the right
candidates to join its teaching force or has teacher quality been sacrificed in
favour of non-meritocratic factors.
Take heed that no amount of educational reforms will bring about substantial
improvement in the quality of our education system without having competent and
dedicated teachers.
I am in favour of retaining both the UPSR and PMR examinations.
We need standardised nationwide exams to ensure school accountability and a
uniform measure to ensure results are fair and comparable.
It should be noted that Singapore (renowned for its high-quality educational
system) has a primary school leaving examination to determine competence for
secondary education.
What needs to be reviewed are the “what” and “how” of assessing student learning
and deciding an optimal blend of school-based assessment and public
examinations.
■ Dr Ranjit Singh Malhi is an educationist, consultant, trainer and history book
author. He has also authored books in the areas of total quality management,
management development and personal development.
Wassalam.
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