The statistics data contradict the voices that the first quarter exams in high schools were a debacle, Education Minister Prodromos Prodromou said on Saturday after a meeting at the Ministry of Education with the leadership of organised secondary school parents on the issue.
Specifically, the Minister, citing data, said that looking at the statistical distributions of grades in the main subjects at least, it appears to be what was expected, "a normal distribution" that is no different from previous years.
"But when, in all the core subjects this year, we had a percentage like in third grade New Greek where somewhere around 10 percent excelled, from 17 to 20 in the scores, it belies those voices that it was a debacle," he said. Prodromou at a press conference after the meeting.
He also said that these results and the indications they have are already being used for the internal improvement of the school and for the adaptation of teaching methods and for the better organization of studies "which is the next big issue that we will have to discuss."
The Minister had a meeting earlier with the President and members of the Board of Directors of the Confederation of Associations of Public Secondary School Parents' Associations on the new evaluation procedure and the written examinations of fourth-year high schools and technical schools.
The purpose, he said, was to provide full and thorough information on the procedures followed in high schools and technical schools for the marking of quarterly examination papers. He said the opportunity was given to the Ministry's directorates, professional officers, teachers involved in the subjecting, marking and organising of the examinations to give a detailed briefing to parents "because it appears that there may be wrong impressions". According to Prodromou, various questions and allegations that have been heard from time to time were answered.
He pointed out the very good cooperation with the Confederation of Parents, who, he said, have helped in the pandemic in the proper functioning of schools and in the difficult process of implementing the improvement reforms that have occurred in recent years in education.
"We want and need to consult with parents, and to pass the message to children, to the new generation that knowledge, learning, requires effort. That it is worthwhile to make efforts for knowledge, learning, cultivation, that nothing is achieved without some effort in the field of knowledge," he said.
He acknowledged that the pandemic has made it difficult for everyone, and said adjustments are being made, "but I don't think anyone wants us to question the prestige and standard of our high school and our high school diplomas."
We must, he said, "defend the public school as a place of knowledge, of method, of scientific approach. School should not be a kind of commerce where the customer is always right."
Together with organized parents and with teachers, he added, they will see where and how some improvements can be made, but he stressed that the quarterly evaluation process will be extended to high schools starting next year.
Mistakes, he said, may be made, as everywhere, and there may be things that need improvement, "but we cannot cancel the school, the evaluation, as I hear some voices, to want to abolish quality certification, it is not right."
The minister also said that the process of teaching, evaluation, and determining the methods should be left to the relevant departments, teachers and managers of the ministry. He said they are selected officials who are involved and engaged in the processes and assessments, who have over 20 years of experience, "and we should let them do their job, it is not a political process, nor is it a bargaining process."
He said that education and assessments in Cyprus are about the same as they are everywhere in other European Member States.
Prodromou also referred to "a cheap populism that is hitting education". "With evidence we told parents not to be carried away by irresponsible voices," he added.
In addition to the Director General and the Directors of Secondary General and Secondary Technical Education and Training, the General Inspectors, First Officers of Education, as well as a number of inspectors of various courses participated in the parents' briefing.
According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Education, during the meeting, data were presented from the Ministry's side showing that the assessment conducted in the month of January this year has results that are practically no different from those of previous years - where there was a similar assessment - and the performance of the students of Upper Secondary School/Technical Schools, who sat for the quarterly examinations for the first time, are similar to the performance of the same students in last year's examinations when they sat the examinations as upper secondary school/technical school students.
Performance, it is reported, was on average about the same as in other school years, with deviations of 1-1.5 points (which deviations in some cases were positive).
The distribution of performance in the different subjects across thousands of students shows that it is as statistically expected, with a proportion of about 10% of the third grade students scoring high (17-20/20) and the majority scoring average, with more than a third scoring between 10 and 13/20. There was a similar "normal distribution" in Mathematics, Physics and other subjects, the press release added.
The Ministry also made reference to relatively "dramatic" reports, and for this reason, it said, data was presented on the performance of students who were among the "starter group" of schools, i.e. those with the highest performance.
"These results show that in the vast majority, and with a few exceptions counted on the fingers, the performance of these pupils from a number of schools in various districts from which data have been collected is equal to or better than their regular performance." Therefore, it said, the scathing references made by some to "victimisation" were not at all true and were irresponsible if not malicious.
In his statements, the Education Minister also referred to AKEL's criticism of public schools. He said that AKEL has been "fighting the public school for years" because it wants it to be inferior and without evaluation.
"They are fighting the evaluation that is done with the four-month exams, and in this way they can only end up with one thing, a public school without quality certification, which will push all those who want the best to go to private education. This is the only thing AKEL can achieve by fighting the evaluation procedures of public schools," he said."
He also said he did not want the ministry to be dragged down this path. "We do not want to cultivate elitist tendencies, i.e. to push children and parents to other schools, we want to have quality in public schools and to do this we need evaluation that cultivates values," he said.
The Confederation said it would hold a press conference on the issue on Thursday.
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