Four-month exams are being successfully implemented, Education Minister Prodromos Prodromou said on Monday after an extraordinary meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Education, which was briefed on some proposals, including limiting the number of tests.
Mr. Prodromou, in his remarks after the Committee meeting, appealed that some people, even if unintentionally, avoid creating disruption in schools with various announcements and interventions.
"We must not forget that the main issue is not assessment or examinations, it is the organization of curricula and their adjustment, so that we can offer children, what they need in today's world, adapted to their own needs and abilities, so that school, is as beneficial as possible and we produce educated and competitive citizens in today's society," he said.
The majority of parliamentary parties expressed agreement for a dialogue over the summer among all stakeholders on the problems arising from the four-year exams. For its part, AKEL proposes a proposal for a law to abolish the exams and a dialogue on a new evaluation system.
Prodromou said after the meeting that studies done for the first time by the ministry, with statistical scientific analysis tools, were presented. The general conclusion, he added, is that in the three school years so far that the new evaluation system has been implemented[/B], albeit in parts, "the quarterly exams have been successfully implemented."
"We should stress that performance and results do not matter as much as the fact that for the first time we have in the Ministry reliable tools on which to base our policies," he said.
Because he hears comments being made, he added,they should identify where there are weaknesses, where it appears that a portion of children are probably attending a program for which they are not prepared. Prodromou said there are such points, but that does not prove that the government's policy is right or wrong. "On the contrary, the results from 2010-2012, which we have, for the only reliable, nationwide, assessments, which was the Pancyprian exams, show that since then, there have been some shortcomings, some problems in general performance, which we are trying to correct," he said.
So far, he added, the reform, which includes the timetable, the merit-based selection of teachers, the curricula which will have to be adjusted, and the new student evaluation system, "has worked and we have tangible results."
Regarding the student evaluation system, he said that the ministry, based on its experience, is submitting some proposals, on which it is waiting for the opinion of teachers, the OELMEK and OLTEK, as well as organised parents.
Referring to the Ministry's proposals, he said that, hearing voices saying that there is a lot of pressure and many written test procedures, "we believe thatwe can limit the written tests, since we will also intervene in the legislation if necessary."
Regarding oral scores, the concurrent, 60% said they can limit the number of tests. "Already the ministry's guidelines are to limit, but since it seems that it is not followed everywhere, we can put a quantitative limitation in the legislation," he said.
A second measure, he said, would be to provide for the commissioning of written assignments, so-called projects, as part of the oral assessment.
As for the second-quarter assessment, this year,[/B] he said, and taking into account the pandemic conditions that still apply, special examination centres will be organised so that students who are absent due to coronavirus will not be referred to the second series of examinations. He said the second series of examinations would be organised for those who, for whatever reason, would not be able to sit the first series, but because, he said, there have been voices, "even if it is not true, that the subjects were of different difficulty in the second series, we should avoid such discussions."
More generally, the ministry is open to dialogue, he said, adding that the suggestion heard in the committee that a dialogue involving members of the committee be held, for a comprehensive review, "to see if there are ways to improve the procedures for assessing students," was accepted.
Prodromou said that at the same time there are two other proposals on the table, "that have both positives and points to be concerned about" for limiting written tests in schools, specifically for only three testable subjects. If there were three testable subjects in high school, he said, it would avoid written assessments in electives that create many combinations and the need for longer testing times. That is, he said, it would save days and end the assessment sooner within the school year.
A second discussion that can be had, he said, is the legislative proposal that the Department of Education has been preparing for a year. The Minister said that this proposal should not necessarily be adopted, but that it would allow to limit the number of tests, especially for the third grade, using the same tests for access to universities, either the quarter exams or the second quarter, a customized test on the same day that would ensure both school assessment and access to universities.
Asked if some people are fighting public school, he said there are two political philosophies, one trying to entrench assessment because, "we want education to have value in school and you can't have quality and value without assessment." There is also a logic of convenience, he added, "which unfortunately also resorts to populism, a policy of flattening."
We have seen this policy of flattening in practice when AKEL was in power, he said, adding that with this logic "it is with this logic that they had brought the country to bankruptcy."
Asked about comments from the OELMEK about the shrinking of the school year, the minister said that "the time this year is more, it has not shrunk."
The restrictions of the coronet have prevented school activities to which time was being devoted, but the fact is that this year the time has not shrunk, he said.
MPs' statements
The Chairman of the Education Committee, Paul Mylonas, said that "the debate has been opened up very well and in depth".
He said that two issues arise, firstly, the position from AKEL that it is in favour of abolishing the four-year exams, while the other political forces, and the Ministry, understand the big and serious problems that exist in this process.
He pointed out that two issues have emerged, that, firstly, there is not enough time, because schools start and the school year ends at certain intervals, whereupon, he said, either teaching hours must be increased or time must be found to avoid the problems that arise. One of his own ideas, he said, is to change the timetable in schools, from 0730 to 1330 to 0830 to 1500 or 1600.
These issues will be discussed at the next session, he said, when they have the timetable and syllabuses.
The second problem, he said, is the syllabus which seems that in many cases cannot be removed. "We were told as an example of probability mathematics where for some reason they removed it and it is a subject that students find in many areas and specialisations of university education," he said.
Mylonas also referred to a study by his party, prepared by MP Chrysanthos Savvidis, and recommendations which he said the ministry largely endorses. The suggestions, among others, include adapting the syllabus to the needs of the time available, stopping the many exams and introducing alternative forms of assessment, such as projects, while for the third grade, the final central examination should also be for purposes of dismissal and access to higher educational institutions.
DISY MP Giorgos Karoullas
said that they discussed for the umpteenth time the issue of quarterly exams, because the opposition "constantly wishes to challenge this institution, this reform, which is for the benefit of our children, with verbal extremes that are not appropriate in the field of education."
He said that their focus is on the student, and the correct, reliable process, assessment aimed at the best possible learning, results. If there is anything that is being achieved by constant questioning and sterile opposition, he said, it is to exacerbate the anxiety and stress, the difficulty that children are in at this difficult time of year.
He said that as DISY they are ready to discuss the bill that the Ministry of Education has ready for the abolition of access examinations.
Christos Christofides, an AKEL MP,[/B] said they have a solution to this problem, a proposal for a law to abolish exams every four months "and to finally force the Minister of Education to enter into a dialogue on a new system of evaluation of children, which is based on real learning in the creativity of children, in school, in the achievement of learning objectives, not on rote learning and learning skills only to write exams."
He also said that everyone disagrees with the institution of four-year exams, "but the ministry continues to cynically" implement it.
He also referred to a "unacceptable", he said, announcement by the minister this morning "attacking AKEL" on this issue. It is not AKEL that disagrees with him, but the parents, who are desperate, the pupils, who are all oppressed, the teachers, who live it every day in schools, "the amount of harm he does with his decisions."
MP Andreas Apostolou,
of the EPP,[/B] called for calm.
"Far from shouting and populism, we must let the children take their exams," he said. Apostolou said they were in favour of the proposal to start a dialogue during the summer involving the Ministry, the Commission, teachers, organised parents and other stakeholders that make up the public school system to discuss these changes that can be made to the four-year institution.
For his part, DPA MP Alekos Tryfonidis said that they put the issue of education as a top issue and that solutions must be found and therefore, they proposed, after the conclusion of the exams in the middle of the summer, which was accepted, a meeting, of all stakeholders, so that a consensual, creative and constructive dialogue can take place, "so that through this dialogue we can work out a new system of student assessment that goes beyond the problems that have emerged from today's meeting".
Source: CNA
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