KUCHING: The abolition of the PT3 (Form Three Assessment) exams for good this year may not be simple as it sounds.
The Sarawak Teachers Union (STU) foresees complications arising from scrapping the examinations and has called on the Education Ministry (MOE) to address these complications.
Union chief Adam Parkash Abdullah suggested that the Sarawak Education Department and the District Education Offices be involved in addressing these complications.
He said a roadshow should be held to explain how Form Three students would be evaluated and assessed via a valid and justifiable system.
“There should be an innovative and creative system in place to assist teachers in managing the process so that they can focus on their students,” he said.
The teachers would have to take on more work because assessments would be conducted throughout their classes, resulting in more clerical work that necessitated data collection via direct evaluation, observation, and activities, he said.
“This will deprive teachers of their lesson preparation time as well as their breaktime, and they need to be trained to carry out school and classroom-based examinations in performing tests and evaluating their students.
“This will cause dissatisfaction, and we expect more people to leave the service sooner because they will be unable to meet the job demands.
“Lastly teachers need to be protected against any unwarranted accusations towards their job as a teacher,” he said.
He went on to say that students would need to improve their study skills because the assessment would undoubtedly require a high level of competence and confidence to receive good grades from the teachers.
“They must also be informed about how they will be graded and how performance-based assessment will be implemented, as STU does not want students to be under-informed about how they will be evaluated and thus be unfairly graded,” he added.
Asked on the approach schools and teachers should take, he said there should be a paradigm shift among teachers.
“They need to prepare themselves for more dynamic assessment procedures and be prepared to explain the assessment procedures to parents and students.
“School administrators need to ensure that the teachers are trained and given continuous professional development in school- and classroom-based assessment so that they can conduct their assessment effectively and professionally,” Adam said.
