Schreiner / Montageschreiner AROBA AG - Bewerben TUE JUN 13, 2017 South China Morning Post EDITION: INTERNATIONAL a JOBS EVENTS EDUCATION COURSES NEWSLETTERS EDUCATION & COMMUNITY REGISTER / LOGIN " > FHOME CHINA HK ASIA WORLD COMMENT BUSINESS TECH LIFE CULTURE SPORT WEEK IN ASIA POST MAG STYLE .TV Q ALL PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 21 March, 2017, 3:21pm UPDATED : Wednesday, 29 March, 2017, 5:25am COMMENT: Testing times for Hong Kong’s controversial exam, despite government awarding itself a pass Parents fear repetitive drilling exercises will continue and are calling for assessment to be scrapped while planning a citywide boycott ! 1 RELATED TOPICS Focus Hong Kong schools With revised test papers being less severe and a trial lauded a success, the initial conclusion from officials is that the revamped Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) will reduce test anxiety for students, which prompted the government to announce that it will extend the controversial exam to all public schools this year. On paper it would seem that the government has produced We recommend for you CULTURE Who caused the opium war? British merchants of Canton, argues new… 12 Jun 2017 NEWS Twelve months’ probation for Hong Kong man who made son, 8, cross… 15 May 2017 LIFESTYLE 12 Jun 2017 LIFESTYLE 27 May 2017 LIFESTYLE 08 Jun 2017 LIFESTYLE 08 Jun 2017 ' Peace Chiu 0 SHARE k t | n m v \P 5 ! 1 c
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Schreiner / Montageschreiner
AROBA AG -Bewerben
TUE JUN 13, 2017South China Morning Post EDITION: INTERNATIONALa JOBS EVENTS EDUCATION COURSES NEWSLETTERS
EDUCATION & COMMUNITY REGISTER / LOGIN " >
FHOMECHINA HK ASIA WORLD COMMENT BUSINESS TECH LIFE CULTURE SPORT WEEK IN ASIA POST MAG STYLE .TV Q ALL
Testing times for Hong Kong’scontroversial exam, despitegovernment awarding itself a passParents fear repetitive drilling exercises will continue andare calling for assessment to be scrapped while planning acitywide boycott
!1
RELATED TOPICS
FocusHong Kong schools
With revised test papers being less severe and a triallauded a success, the initial conclusion from officials is thatthe revamped Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) willreduce test anxiety for students, which prompted thegovernment to announce that it will extend thecontroversial exam to all public schools this year.
On paper it would seem that the government has produced
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shining results after more than a year of review of thecontroversial assessment, but if we scratch below thesurface, we will find a large number of highly disgruntledparents and educators.
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They still fear that the angst from repetitive drillingexercises will remain as long as the test is beingconducted, and hence have renewed their call for theassessment – set for May and June – to be scrapped whileat the same time planning a citywide boycott.
Launched in 2004 by the Education Bureau, the TSA hasbeen administered across the city at Primary Three, PrimarySix and Secondary Three as an assessment for learning forChinese language, English language and mathematics.
While originally designed as a tool to enhance learning andteaching by providing the government with data to reviewpolicies and schools with information about students’specific academic competencies, the assessment,particularly that for the Primary Three level, has in recentyears become notoriously synonymous with the immensepressure of the local education system.
Over the years, exam questions have become more difficultand trickier, leading to excessive drilling by schools andstress on primary children.
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Following widespread calls for the test to be scrapped, thePrimary Three TSA was suspended last year to facilitate acomprehensive review.
The review yielded positive results which included cuttingthe number of items assessed in the maths paper by about20 per cent – and a trial of around 50 schools.
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The review committee concluded that the revamped formatwould be less demanding and would therefore eliminatethe incentive for over-drilling.
Based on the committee’s recommendations, the bureauannounced in January that all Primary Three students atlocal schools would have to take part in a new exam calledthe Basic Competency Assessment (BCA) research study thisyear.
While the bureau insisted that it was different from theTSA, detractors have dismissed the explanation as just aplay on words and, in reality, it would not discourageschools from over-drilling students for the test.
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Annie Cheung Yim-shuen, spokeswoman of concern groupParents Alliance, said some parents found their childrenbeing given TSA homework and received notices regardingtheir children having to stay behind after school for TSApractices.
A study conducted byeducation sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen released last year found that a simplified TSA formatwould not eliminate drilling as long as the test continued tobe used to rank schools.
A senior teacher at a Kowloon public school who wished tostay anonymous told the Post that an Education Bureauofficer visited his school about eight to 10 years ago towarn senior staff about the school’s low TSA scores and itslow student intake. Thereafter, teachers were pressured bythe principal to deliver better TSA results through drillingstudents.
SSWe used to haveskit performancesto hone theirlanguage andcommunicationsskillsCHEUNG FU-WING, ENGLISHTEACHER
The bureau has repeatedly denied similar claims over theyears.
Many believe the assessment has ironically compromisedthe quality of education.
Cheung Fu-wing, a primary school English teacher for 20years, said that his school’s curricula had becomeincreasingly exam-oriented over the years in order to trainstudents to do well in TSA.
“In the past, we used to haveactivities such as skitperformances and assignmentssuch as book reviews to honetheir language andcommunication skills,” he said.
“Nowadays, students don’treally read story booksanymore, but they have to learnhow to read coupons andnotices, which is one of thethings being tested in TSA.They will end up gaining
techniques to do well in TSA at the expense of enrichingtheir language skills,” he lamented.
Dr Yan Zi, assistant professor at the Education University’sdepartment of curriculum and instruction, believes thatstress associated with TSA was inevitable due to the factthat drilling is useful for enhancing short-term examinationscores that are valued by the society.
He added a similar assessment exists in South Korea, whichalso puts a lot of pressure on students.
“I don’t think the issue is about [whether to have] TSA ornot. It is the culture and this culture has led to generallyhigh levels of achievement,” Professor David Carless fromthe University of Hong Kong’s faculty of education pointedout, adding other tests would also put pressure onstudents.
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SSIf the school couldchoose betweentaking part [inBCA] or not, theschool would notparticipateEMMANUEL PRIMARY SCHOOL
He attributed this mindset to the city’s Confucian-heritageculture, with parents having high expectations for theacademic success of their offspring and the residualinfluence of the Chinese imperial examination system.
But both academics also pointed out the value of the testfor the bureau and schools to understand student’s strengthand weaknesses, adding the questions are of high qualityand carefully designed.
While it is difficult to strike a balance between reaping thebenefits of TSA while not exerting undue pressure onstudents, Dr Yan believes that it can be done if there couldbe a change in society’s mentality.
Professor Carless called for stakeholders to make better useof assessment information to improve learning instead ofmainly focusing on the mark awarded. This can be donethrough bringing in expertise to analyse the results to maketeaching plans with teachers.
With less than two months before the oral exam for TSA,Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim recentlyannounced that 500 schools across the city had arranged toparticipate in BCA. Those taking part include all publicschools and around 20 private institutions.
But the Professional Teachers’Union found out in a recentpoll that one-third of theprincipals of local schools,including public schools, wouldnot take part in theassessment.
Emmanuel Primary School,which refused to take part inthe trial last year, explained inan internal notice to parentswhy it had a change of heartthis year: “If the school could
choose between taking part [in BCA] or not, the schoolwould not participate; but if the school is being given nochoice but to participate, the school will treat the issue withequanimity.”
After a series of futile talks with the government, some
parents are taking matters into their own hands with plansfor a mass boycott.
Cheung of Parents Alliance said it had received more than800 letters of intent from parents indicating they wouldboycott the assessment, with most having children studyingin Primary Three.
She suspects the reason behind the government’sreluctance to cancel Primary Three TSA/BCA this year isbecause it could open a can of worms.
“People might eventually ask: what about the TSA forPrimary Six? Or perhaps some might even call for a reviewof the entire education system,” she said.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as:Testing timesfor controversial exam
