Requiem for an exam

The pitfalls of national benchmarks

Prof. Carmel Borg, Lecturer in Faculty of Education

For those who dare dream of a drop-out rate of much less than 36.8% (the percentage of students who do not continue school after secondary level) and of an organic, general education experience where social empathy and activism and students’ higher-order cognitive skills are promoted and nurtured, the reform represents a genuine attempt to challenge the fatalistic vision of those who think that academic failure is natural, personal and inevitable. 

Structurally, the reform is meant to smoothen the transition between primary and secondary education. However, the education community is still in the dark as to how Form 1 students will be grouped. Will tracking be used to create student cohorts before they are set, or will students be grouped randomly and then set for the basic subjects? Less than two weeks ago, this crucial question was left unanswered.

Reforms are meant to serve students. Standardised tests rarely address the range of abilities, learning styles and patterns, intelligences and learning difficulties. They tend to reinforce the one-size-fits-all pedagogical culture rather than challenge it. They also fail to capture students’ dreams, imagination, the search for beauty and alternative worlds and possibilities, risk-taking, creativity, innovation and critical thinking. Moreover, they tend to breed student conformity and to privilege narrow curricula. The humanities, arts and socio-cultural studies tend to suffer within the standardized-testing regime. Teaching to the benchmark is another concern.

Some schools have already piloted the tests. Education communities are asking how will benchmarks serve children in a context where the whole school outperformed the tests? Will aspirations and self-fulfilment suffer because of benchmarking? Will levels be adjusted to accommodate high performance? Will schools be given the right to opt out of national benchmarking?

Educational officers are currently racing against the clock to deliver new syllabi which, hopefully, are being inspired and informed by the curriculum framework which has not yet seen the light of day. I hope that the paradigm shift in curriculum is strong enough to address the current atomisation and fragmentation of knowledge, the marginalisation of science within the primary sector, the consumption of inert knowledge, and the banalisation of the humanities, among other challenges. 

A gradual and positive reform

Stephen Cachia, College principal of St Margaret College

The change from the Junior Lyceum entrance exam to a Year 6 benchmark assessment is a very positive reform which should have a profound change on our educational system. For a modern society which aims to achieve the maximum potential of all its students, a system conditioned heavily by a high stakes selective examination was no longer sustainable and flew in the face of all educational research which studies effective, inclusive and equitable educational systems.

This reform has not gone for radical, overnight change but has been implemented in a gradual manner. In this way the end of Year 6 examination has not been removed completely but has been transformed into a benchmark assessment which can be used as a diagnostic tool to help secondary schools cater for every student according to his and her needs. The format of the exam has also been completely transformed, aiming to assess a wider range of skills in English, Maltese and Mathematics. The change in this format has also been a gradual process in which primary school teachers were involved. An important example of this is the manner in which the oral, spoken, component of the language benchmark assessment has been developed. This has been a positive process in which teachers were constantly involved in discussions, training and the development of the format of the exam.

Clearly this reform is part of wider change process and has a long way to go yet. The forthcoming challenge is to ensure a smooth change in secondary schools with the development of a college model and the removal of the Junior Lyceum and Area Secondary distinction. However, I am confident that the professionalism and dedication of our educators in schools, supported by adequate resources, will rise up to the challenge of this important reform to achieve the crucial educational value which guides us daily in our work: making a positive difference in the life chances of all our students.

The children will benefit

Frank Fabri, Principal of St Theresa College

For the past 14 years I have been writing against education systems which discriminate, select, classify and label by distinguishing ‘good students’ from others. I express this opinion not just because I am professionally and academically informed but because I suffered this experience personally when as a student I had failed the junior lyceum exam.

Students will assessed on four basic skills (including speech), in a focused and calmer environment. In mathematics, students will also be assessed both for mental and written arithmetic.

The benchmark system will be entirely different from the one currently used. Even the method of assessing children is sometimes different and more authentic and standardised on a national level to provide a more real assessment of the skills of all children. This will not only benefit students but also teachers who will be better prepared and informed on their students.

If we do not give these benchmarks disproportionate importance as was given to the junior lyceum exam, there will be much less pressure on children and hopefully their parents. Children will be more likely to enjoy learning, fully knowing that the exam will not determine which school they will be attending and whether they would embark in a route leading towards greater or less success than other children.

The benchmark system will for the first time also provide extra time in Maltese and English, and this will be beneficial.

In St Theresa’s College we have already introduced a new Form 1 which is hosting all students which in the previous year were attending the primary school. As from last year we worked to set up quality standards together with teachers, parents and children.

I am pleased that in this school there is a lot of commitment, which is contributing to create an atmosphere of a living school. This will be a learning experience for all of us. In the end, this is only the beginning as, the benchmark system will open new doors for children in their wider educational development.

Relief and fears

Paulin Miceli, Head of Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary

The removal of the Junior Lyceum examination ties up with the reform that has incorporated the kindergarten, primary and secondary schools in area Colleges.

Children attending the college will get automatically promoted to the secondary school of the same College. Therefore, the need to sit for the Junior Lyceum examination is eliminated. As has been argued over many years, there would be no more pressure and excessive stress on students, teachers and parents. No more pages and pages of homework, learning useless information by rote and private tuition for more written exercises. Oh what a relief!

But this is not the general feeling I get from parents and teachers. Parents worry that the range of abilities in classes will lower their children’s achievements and expectations. Children will now be too relaxed to study and do well enough at the end of compulsory education, to obtain the required passes, namely grades A-C at the SEC examinations, which would enable them to further their studies. On the other hand teachers who have built a reputation with success in examinations are sceptical. 

Pupils of mixed abilities will take most classes together and are separated according to achievement for some others. Traditional written tests and examinations will not be totally done away but will form part of a range of assessment methods which will be recorded continuously. In theory this sounds great.

I believe that students benefit in a mixed ability class. However, our local scenario offers some challenges. The three-tier system of schools, Independent, Church and State, leaves State Schools with a wider range of lower ability and motivation pupils. Educators fear that the expansion of church schools will impinge on the right quality mix of students in state schools to achieve results and will be detrimental.

We neglected our state schools

Carmel Hili, Senior Lecturer, Junior College

The proposed educational reform is ambitious and translates into a complete overhaul, especially of the secondary education sector as we have known it since the introduction of the Junior Lyceum exams in the early eighties.

I think the reforms should have been introduced more gradually, backed up with considerable financial investment as they risk being half-baked and cause other unforeseen stress on all stakeholders. I would have preferred retaining the current system of Junior Lyceum and Common Entrance exams and improving it before embarking on a complete overhaul.

I believe all pupils are academically-able; it is usually their family circumstances which often do not let them bring out their potential in the 11+ exam. During the years we have neglected area secondary schools, let them go their way, stigmatised them, rendered their teachers mere “babysitters” rather than educators when we should have invested heavily in them in terms of specialised teachers and administrators, educational resources and a physical environment conducive to both effective teaching and learning.

Trade schools have suffered a worse fate having been completely dismantled. Only with such massive investment could these students be expected to follow the same academically demanding syllabi and sit for the same Matsec exams. We have simply labelled these students and done nothing about it, demotivating both them and their teachers resulting in considerable absenteeism. These schools should have been reformed with less pupils per class for more individual attention and reduction in subjects to concentrate on basic literacy and numeracy by the end of compulsory schooling.

Area secondary students should also have access to adequate guidance services to address personal and emotional problems, especially self-esteem and study methods, and assistance in improving their problematic family environments. Adequate measures of discipline would ensure more motivated teachers and students alike. All these measures would ensure a more holistic and quality education to our current ‘failing’ students by giving them as many chances as we can afford. Every child is precious and it is the responsibility of our educational system to tap their potential and bring out the best in them.