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The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth Mr Prodromos Prodromou participated in yesterday's meeting of the Committee on Education and Culture of the House of Representatives and informed about the written assessment of the first quarter in Lyceums and Technical Schools.
Mr Prodromou informed about the whole process which unfolded smoothly, despite the difficult pandemic conditions. He said that the evaluation is being conducted for the third consecutive school year, in accordance with the Regulations, as approved by Parliament in 2017 and as amended after consultations with the educational organizations and the Parents' Confederation during the previous year in order to apply some improvement provisions.
He stated that he is concerned about the fact that in recent days a rumour has developed and there have been rumours and claims that this year's performance is very low and that children have allegedly been victimised, while those who make such claims do not know the results, since they have not yet been completed.
In particular, he noted that "t is amazing that from the first days of February and while the correction had not been completed and no one was in a position to know the results in general, this semantics started, which even led to a publication on 3 February. What are the motives of those who deliberately engage in this misinformation and scaremongering? I think it is obvious, but I leave the conclusions to you."
He reminded that according to the Rules in force, the Parliament should expect an update from the Ministry after an evaluation of the whole process, i.e. as stated in Article 47, after the completion of the cycle with the inclusion of the 3rd High School/Technical Schools, i.e. after next June. However, he added that "t would have no objection and now to inform Parliament with any available information". Although the full final figures are not yet available - they will be ready in the next few days - the Minister referred to a broad sample that relates to a specific region only, but about 15% of the student population."
"I have these figures with me, he said, and I can categorically tell you that the claims of particularly low performance are not borne out. These results clearly show that performance in the first and second grades is about the same as in previous years, and in the third grade is similar to data from the Pancyprian Examinations."
In any case, he added, "and even if the results were lower and where individually, in some groups of students they might be, despite the average being no different, the problem would not be the assessment, but the learning gaps and deficits themselves. It is quite paradoxical that some people are bothered about assessment and diagnosis rather than any learning deficits. We should aim to address those and not, as some do, try to eliminate diagnosis."
He added that "Those who for four years because they did not want Reform have been systematically and continually fighting assessment because they did not want Reform are not doing a service to public schools. Because when there is assessment we enhance the credibility of our Baccalaureate." He characteristically concluded that "n addition to the disruption they create with an incomprehensible stubbornness to try to push for the Law and Regulation in force not to be implemented, they spread the impression that a school without assessment would be better, ignoring that in order to have quality and value, you need assessment".
Our goal, he concluded, with the Government's reform is to base the Ministry's education policies and actions on real and evidence-based data, not on dogma or mere impressions. This is why quarterly assessments prove to be very useful both for each individual student (and their parents) and for the teaching teachers who can identify issues to be corrected or aspects to be emphasized, and for the Ministry which is expected to plan and reformulate by adapting curricula and syllabi. On this basis, he added, the possible reorganization of some of the curricula on the basis of what is validly established should be of concern in the coming period.
The Ministry took the opportunity to submit a scientific study of the results obtained for one of the subjects, through which the examination essay is also evaluated in a valid manner, noting that a similar update will follow for other subjects. While informing that a thorough analysis of 40,000 essays has been initiated to ascertain internal consistency through a one-to-one study of the issues/questions that make up the papers. The Committee was also informed that the Ministry is in the process of constituting an Examination Quality Control Team. The Minister finally indicated that further updates will be given to the Commission when complete information is available.
IP
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