KUCHING: There must be comprehensive guidelines and monitoring of alternative assessment that will replace the Ujian Peperiksaan Sekolah Rendah (UPSR), opines an academic.
Dr Zuraini Seruji, from a local tertiary institution, said the cancellation of UPSR did not downgrade the education standard in Malaysia but a comprehensive yardstick was needed.
Having said that, she pointed out that the early process of intellectual and physical formation for the children remained the main focus.
“If we look at it from a positive angle, the UPSR was necessary to identify and assess the knowledge as well as skills that students have achieved.
“This enabled teachers, students and parents to work and complement each other in their respective roles to ensure that students can achieve their potential during the six years of primary education.
“It also served as a yardstick for the learning activities and outcome during the duration.”
She also said several matters must be looked into for the implementation of classroom-based assessment (PBD) to be a success.
“The cancellation of UPSR allows comprehensive assessment to be conducted in which it would not only focus on the academics. However, the challenge would be in making sure that the assessment is conducted in a fair and just manner.
“There must be transparency in the assessments based on skills criteria evaluated in various fields such as academics, sports, religion and inclination towards skills among others.
“With this regard, auditing from the relevant authority is needed to ensure that assessments take place accordingly for quality and to protect the students’ rights.
“The quality for PBD must be enhanced particularly on the level of reliability of classroom assessment by teachers and the validity of constructs or dimensions that need to be assessed by teachers in the classroom.”
Meanwhile, a teacher who requested anonymity, said the absence of checkpoints until the next public exam could pose some problems if students’ weaknesses were overlooked.
She noted that primary schools becoming no longer exam-oriented would facilitate the goal of ensuring students are studying for knowledge.
“Students have no checkpoint before entering secondary school until the public examination in Form Three. By then, any potential educational problems may be overlooked if schools do not take extra care and measures to curb the problem at its root.
“The UPSR was not necessary because there are many forms of assessments which could be effective if they are done right. It is good that things will no longer be exam based for the primary school students but there might be a challenge in assessing their knowledge formally.”
She added that entry-level examination could be used to gauge the students’ level of competency before entering secondary school.
“However, this can be bias and influenced by many other factors including the level of difficulties according to each school.”
When asked whether the cancellation of UPSR would change the instructional strategies for teachers to conduct their classes, she pointed out there would be positive and negative effects.
“It all depends on individual perceptions so it is difficult to say. Thus, the school management needs to ensure that learning takes place accordingly.”
