Mid-year exams to be scrapped in all primary, secondary schools by 2023

[bbbay]

My view is, It is only scrapping 1 test per year, from the many tests. If it’s scrapping all tests, that will be revolutionary, and then it may warrant a philosophical discussion and take stock how far we have come

[ChiefKiasu]

bbbay\" post_id=\"2062599\" time=\"1648204158\" user_id=\"175278:

My view is, It is only scrapping 1 test per year, from the many tests. If it’s scrapping all tests, that will be revolutionary, and then it may warrant a philosophical discussion and take stock how far we have come

Not having any exams?? :yikes:

In this case, it is not how far we have come, but rather... how much we have regressed

[bbbay]

ChiefKiasu\" post_id=\"2062611\" time=\"1648219523\" user_id=\"3:

Not having any exams?? :yikes:

In this case, it is not how far we have come, but rather... how much we have regressed

Regress, that is an interesting perspective I never expect.

We are always trying to make sense of what is going on. To do that, we will frame the situations around our knowledge and experiences, in order to make sense of it. So how we interpret a situation (make sense of it) is also depended on our knowledge/experience of it. Experience (more than knowledge in shaping interpretations of situations for most people) aspect of it I shall not discuss, it is unique to individuals.

Education is about gaining knowledge. In those days where we were tested on what we can recall “correctly”, so when the same materials are taught to everyone, then everyone will frame a problem around the same knowledge learnt from the same system. everyone will then interpret the same situation same way. And we mostly think in words. And we will likely frame a situation around the vocabulary each of us have. And the vocabulary we build up mostly gained from schools too. Not much creativity. So how we think were mostly “limited” by the content creators and markers

Nowadays our education system has change quite abit: towards some critical thinkings and experimental projects, like our IB syllabus, where some parts of the learning evaluations are based on experimental projects, instead of all rote memorisation. When I said how far we have come, on my mind, we will replace tests with experimental projects, because tests, are “mind limiting”, for the reason mentioned above. The experimental projects’ outcomes will “grade ” the students instead., more closely reflecting the real world situations. We know in real life, ideas are validated as correct/wrong through how the world respond to it, not by a few markers ( which are likely to have “limiting” knowledge too). So moving away from tests to experimental projects as progress validations of students, will be closer to how real life works.

But such systems will be hard to implement. Thus my view of revolutionary.

[sharonkhoo]

bbbay\" post_id=\"2062625\" time=\"1648253091\" user_id=\"175278:

Education is about gaining knowledge. In those days where we were tested on what we can recall “correctly”, so when the same materials are taught to everyone, then everyone will frame a problem around the same knowledge learnt from the same system. everyone will then interpret the same situation same way. And we mostly think in words. And we will likely frame a situation around the vocabulary each of us have. And the vocabulary we build up mostly gained from schools too. Not much creativity. So how we think were mostly “limited” by the content creators and markers

Nowadays our education system has change quite abit: towards some critical thinkings and experimental projects, like our IB syllabus, where some parts of the learning evaluations are based on experimental projects, instead of all rote memorisation. When I said how far we have come, on my mind, we will replace tests with experimental projects, because tests, are “mind limiting”, for the reason mentioned above. The experimental projects’ outcomes will “grade ” the students instead., more closely reflecting the real world situations. We know in real life, ideas are validated as correct/wrong through how the world respond to it, not by a few markers ( which are likely to have “limiting” knowledge too). So moving away from tests to experimental projects as progress validations of students, will be closer to how real life works.

But such systems will be hard to implement. Thus my view of revolutionary.

I agree that markers of exams (and teachers who \"teach to the test\") play a part in constraining thinking. But I think the way to improve that is not to remove testing, but improve the marking! As for content creators, I feel that having greater variety is good, but needs to be curated for the young and less able, with instruction provided - it gives more material to practise thinking and evaluative skills.

Experimental ways to learn a great for school, and in some circumstances in \"real life\", but I think we need to have objective tests of understanding and knowledge as well. In some/many professions, the costs of poor knowledge and skills can be disastrous - think of doctors, engineers, etc. We really don't want them to be experimenting and validating if they are dealing with people's lives. As in all things, a balance between 2 extremes has to be struck. I guess everyone will have a different opinion about where this balance should be, and given that you can't please everyone, if people from different perspectives all complain a bit, it's probably about right!

[00skyblue00]

Like this post :lovesite: thank you for sharing


The following gives more explanation, it is not just about removing mid yr exams.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/mid-year-exams-removal-anxiety-parents-more-stress-2557851

bbbay\" post_id=\"2062625\" time=\"1648253091\" user_id=\"175278:

Regress, that is an interesting perspective I never expect.

We are always trying to make sense of what is going on. To do that, we will frame the situations around our knowledge and experiences, in order to make sense of it. So how we interpret a situation (make sense of it) is also depended on our knowledge/experience of it. Experience (more than knowledge in shaping interpretations of situations for most people) aspect of it I shall not discuss, it is unique to individuals.

Education is about gaining knowledge. In those days where we were tested on what we can recall “correctly”, so when the same materials are taught to everyone, then everyone will frame a problem around the same knowledge learnt from the same system. everyone will then interpret the same situation same way. And we mostly think in words. And we will likely frame a situation around the vocabulary each of us have. And the vocabulary we build up mostly gained from schools too. Not much creativity. So how we think were mostly “limited” by the content creators and markers

Nowadays our education system has change quite abit: towards some critical thinkings and experimental projects, like our IB syllabus, where some parts of the learning evaluations are based on experimental projects, instead of all rote memorisation. When I said how far we have come, on my mind, we will replace tests with experimental projects, because tests, are “mind limiting”, for the reason mentioned above. The experimental projects’ outcomes will “grade ” the students instead., more closely reflecting the real world situations. We know in real life, ideas are validated as correct/wrong through how the world respond to it, not by a few markers ( which are likely to have “limiting” knowledge too). So moving away from tests to experimental projects as progress validations of students, will be closer to how real life works.

But such systems will be hard to implement. Thus my view of revolutionary.

[bbbay]

My view is, In most context, due to how our mind works and also how situations are constantly

changing, there will always be “limitation”. As long as we are aware of it and try to “stay humble”, we can reduce the limitations.

[lee_yl]

I don’t have any kids in the primary school system so I m not sure what are the new changes there now. Yesterday a friend (who’s a FTWM) briefly shared that her son did decently well for those mini tests in school for Chinese and there was no major exams for him. So when he took his first P3 EOY Chinese exam, he came home with 34/100. Sent the mum into freak out mode so the boy was sent to tuition.

I am not sure if this is normal for Pri kids or my friend’s son is the exception.

[lee_yl]

00skyblue00\" post_id=\"2062627\" time=\"1648256485\" user_id=\"143605:

The following gives more explanation, it is not just about removing mid yr exams.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/mid-year-exams-removal-anxiety-parents-more-stress-2557851

Regarding “teach less learn more” kind of concept, maybe it doesn’t benefit all kids. I assume kids have more free time now. Some families with SAHM or grannies can bring the kids to the library after school or encourage them to pick up a book to read during the free time or send them to some enrichment centres. Some parents need to work so couldn’t supervise and the kids were left to watch cartoons, Tik Tok or grow addicted to computer games thanks to all the free time on hand.

So with teach less learn more, perhaps MOE should identify those who need help early and provide them with extra help.

[Imp75]

lee_yl\" post_id=\"2062630\" time=\"1648258982\" user_id=\"17023:

I don’t have any kids in the primary school system so I m not sure what are the new changes there now. Yesterday a friend (who’s a FTWM) briefly shared that her son did decently well for those mini tests in school for Chinese and there was no major exams for him. So when he took his first P3 EOY Chinese exam, he came home with 34/100. Sent the mum into freak out mode so the boy was sent to tuition.
I am not sure if this is normal for Pri kids or my friend’s son is the exception.

Yes since my girls time. I recalled they score full marks for mini tests like vocab and typical paper 2 questions but when EOY came, their results drop below 85 at P3 due mainly to pass in oral and compo only. I panicked and send them to small group chinese tuition under the tutelage of a PRC tutor in P4 as I realised I have been a lousy chinese tchr to them.

[bbbay]

Imp75\" post_id=\"2062634\" time=\"1648260011\" user_id=\"2358:

Yes since my girls time. I recalled they score full marks for mini tests like vocab and typical paper 2 questions but when EOY came, their results drop below 85 at P3 due mainly to pass in oral and compo only. I panicked and send them to small group chinese tuition under the tutelage of a PRC tutor in P4 as I realised I have been a lousy chinese tchr to them.

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