Kuala Lumpur, March 19- The Education Ministry, taking heed of the complaints from teachers, has improved the school-based assessment system whereby teachers do not have to go through the taxing task of keying in data online from April 1.
Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who announced this good news for teachers today at a news conference held at Parliament House, said the teachers could keep the date offline, thus reducing their workload by between 70 and 80 per cent.
“It had been pointed out that it was burdensome for the teachers to key in online all important data, including evidence and descriptors, into a central system,” he said.
“Now, this is not necessary, meaning the data which the teachers have can be kept by them offline, in their own systems, without keying it into a central system.
“This can be done at their own time, given the situation and suitability. As such, I think this will reduce the workload currently borne by the teachers by as much as 70 to 80 per cent,” he said.
The main players in the national education system, such as the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP), were also present at the news conference.
The school-based assessment is a transformation of the focus from examinations to a more holistic education assessment system but, since last year, teachers had complained that the task of keying in data online was burdensome, aggravated by the frequent breakdown of the computer system.
The cabinet had decided on Dec 17, 2010, to implement the school-based assessment as part of the education transformation programme, with its implementation starting in 2011 for primary schools and in 2012 in secondary schools.
However, on Feb 11 this year, the ministry decided to review its implementation.
Muhyiddin explained that the offline recording of data covered the use of a Performance Standards Document simplified to a Student Education Development Guide, Student Development File, Transit Record and maintaining of student records under the school-based assessment.
Muhyiddin said all these records portrayed a student’s educational development during the teaching and learning process that could be conveyed to his or her parents.
“For parents who wanted to know the level of performance of their children, the school can prepare a performance report by holding monthly tests, a mid-year examination or a final-year examination,” he said.
Muhyiddin said the ministry would hold a briefing on the concept and implementation of the school-based assessment for officers at the district education offices and state education departments, administrators and teachers.
He said training was a primary aspect in ensuring that teachers were able to implement evaluation.
As such, he added, the ministry would strive to provide training so that the teachers understood the concept of evaluation and put it into practice in the teaching and learning process.
Bernama
