Innovation in primary school student assessment: Increasing teacher responsibility

(Baonghean) - In just 3 weeks (until October 15), all primary schools must evaluate students according to Circular No. 30/2014/TT-BGDĐT of the Ministry of Education and Training. Accordingly, instead of using scores, teachers will record comments and assessments on the learning and training results of primary school students. This new approach is attracting the attention of teachers, parents...

Class time of teachers and students at Quynh Vinh Primary School (Hoang Mai Town).

Concerns

That is the confession of many primary school teachers in the parent meeting at the beginning of the new school year. Because the 2014-2015 school year has been going on for nearly a month, the teachers have not been instructed or trained on how to evaluate students according to the new regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training. In the parent meeting at the beginning of the new school year on September 21, Ms. Dinh Thi Thuy - Head teacher of class 2G, Ben Thuy Primary School - Vinh City confessed: "In the near future, teachers will no longer give grades to students but instead will give comments on whether they pass or fail. But we have not received specific training so we have not yet agreed on how to record comments. With this new evaluation method, homeroom teachers must follow the class more closely and need the cooperation of parents. Only then can we strengthen the education of children and ensure the quality of teaching and learning...". Ms. Thuy's concern stems from the fact that how to give appropriate comments when not giving grades(?). On that basis, the comments she is planning are: "Need to try harder" to refer to weak students; "Need to try harder" to refer to average students; "Need to develop" to refer to good students and "Develop further" to refer to excellent students... She informs parents of such "conventions" to coordinate in educating students, but the most worrying thing is that students have not yet fully recognized such suggestions to strive to improve in their studies.

The above concerns of Ms. Thuy are also the common feelings of thousands of primary school teachers in the province. Because when switching to the method of evaluating students according to the new circular, teachers will have to work harder. If in the past, the evaluation was often only through 1 character, that is, by score, now, teachers have to spend a lot of time marking papers and commenting in writing. Thus, the commenting process for each student will have to choose the language, at least one or two lines to accurately reflect the quality and capacity of the students. According to Ms. Tran Thi Tuyet - Principal of Tam Thai Primary School, Tuong Duong district: "With this new way of doing things, teachers need to think more, improve objectivity and need to group students to have realistic comments. However, up to now, it has been nearly 1 month since the official school year, but the industry has not organized training or issued a "Quality Monitoring Book" form, so many teachers are still wondering...".

According to the implementation instructions, the assessment of primary school students is carried out from teachers of each subject to homeroom teachers, combined with students' self-assessment. In that process, there is coordination from parents. This requires timely provision of information from subject teachers, how students evaluate to ensure objectivity, avoid criticizing each other and ensure the direction of improving the quality of education... Ms. Ngo Thi Nguyet - Deputy Head of the Department of Education of Vinh City, said: "We are strengthening the direction of schools to implement according to the new policy of the Ministry. At the same time, we synthesize questions from teachers and schools to discuss with the Department of Education and Training in the upcoming conference to have answers, as well as specific instructions for better implementation".

Need a roadmap

When referring to the concerns of primary school teachers, Mr. Tran The Son - Head of Primary Education Department, Department of Education and Training affirmed: "Clearly, the method of evaluating primary school students without grading according to Circular 30 of the Ministry is a new thing in the education sector up to now. Therefore, concerns from the grassroots are inevitable, even to operate the new mechanism well, there needs to be a process. How to evaluate to ensure the principle of not comparing one student with another, not creating pressure for students and parents is the top requirement. Meanwhile, teachers must give comments based on a synthesis of self-service and self-management abilities; communication and cooperation; diligence, confidence, self-responsibility... We are fully absorbing the direction of the Ministry of Education and Training to widely deploy to all primary schools...".

However, up to now (September 23), the Ministry has not yet organized training for departments, so the Departments of Education and Training and primary schools are also waiting for a standard process for assessing students from top to bottom. Meanwhile, the new school year has started for nearly a month, some primary school teachers (from grades 2 to 5) are still implementing the old method, grading students' practice papers. As for the "Quality Monitoring Book" according to the new assessment regulations, they are waiting for a unified form from the Ministry. This book is created by class and school year. In addition, teachers of subjects also have a "Diary" to monitor and record the content that needs to be noted for each student during the teaching process, but there is no consistent form. Therefore, "there needs to be a roadmap for innovation".

The new method of assessing primary school students is to integrate information channels to ensure objectivity. Accordingly, periodically every month, semester and at the end of the school year, homeroom teachers contact parents (via contact books or other information channels such as email, phone or face-to-face meetings) to provide parents with the school's assessment results and consult parents' opinions to have timely and effective measures to help each student. To closely monitor their children's learning situation, parents must look at their notebooks or contact books, see how the teacher "criticizes", from there find a way to coordinate with teachers and schools to help students improve their learning quality.

Although there are still initial concerns and worries when accepting the new method, with the goal of strengthening the connection between school, family and society, the education sector is aiming to affirm the quality of education. This is one of the steps to perfect and improve the quality of universal primary education.

Nguyen Nguyen